Larry Elder's Must-See New Film Tells the True History of Black America and Dismantles the BLM Narrative

The Western Journal - July 1, 2020

The recently released, wildly successful new political documentary “Uncle Tom: An Oral History of the American Black Conservative” is dismantling the Black Lives Matter narrative.

Made up of a series of interviews with various influential black conservatives such as Herman Cain and Candace Owens, “Uncle Tom” examines bigotry against black conservatives, African-American history and the power of individualism, and rejects the victim narrative propagated by left-wing groups such as Black Lives Matter.

Renowned political commentator and radio host Larry Elder produced and co-wrote the documentary feature. Elder spoke with The Western Journal about his new film and the recent surge of support for the Black Lives Matter movement. He began by sharing the story of the film’s inception.

“The director, Justin Malone, came to me a couple of years ago and told me he had an idea to do a documentary about the way blacks are treated who are conservatives, to suggest that maybe we ought not march in there like lemmings and pull the lever 95 percent for the Democratic Party,” Larry Elder told The Western Journal.

“Instead of this starting a healthy debate and a conversation, Justin was shocked that people like myself, Candace Owens and some of the others who were in the movie, are derided as sell-outs and Uncle Toms and he wanted to know why. And so I told him, ‘Well, a lot of people simply don’t agree with with our point of view.’ He said, ‘Yeah, but why the Uncle Tom stuff, why the coon stuff, why the self- loathing stuff?’ And the more he kept asking me that the more I said, this is an intriguing notion to explore.”

The outspoken conservative went on to explain just how successful the film has been since its June 19 debut. “It has doubled the revenues of what ‘Bowling for Columbine’ did in it’s opening weekend and it’s continuing to perform extremely well,” he said.

“And I would’ve thought that this would have generated a story, you know, I’m in Hollywood, its the entertainment business. Even if they don’t like the movie ideologically, you would’ve thought that would have been a big story that this little shoestring movie is outperforming ‘Bowling for Columbine,’ but nobody cares.”

During the film’s opening weekend, “Uncle Tom” netted nearly $400,000 in streaming download sales, making the film one of the most successful political documentaries of all time and “outdistancing” documentaries like “Hilary’s America,” “2016: Obama’s America” and “Bowling for Columbine,” according to a news release from the campaign of retired Army Lt. Col Allen West, who appears in the movie and is currently running for chairman of the Republican Party of Texas.

While the film’s success is staggering, mainstream media outlets appear tepid to share its conservative viewpoints, according to Elder, who revealed why he believes that to be the case.

“People are influenced by what I call the Axis of Indoctrination. And that’s Hollywood, media and academia. And they’re all controlled by the left, especially the schools. I didn’t even know who Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams were until I got out of high school,” Elder told The Western Journal.

Thomas Sowell is a prominent African-American economist who is featured in “Uncle Tom.” Raised in Harlem, New York, Sowell eventually went on to graduate magna cum laude from Harvard University before getting his master’s degree in economics from Columbia University, according to his bio on Townhall.com. Over the course of his career, Sowell has written dozens of books, including “Black Rednecks and White Liberals,” “Discrimination and Disparities” and “Charter Schools and Their Enemies,” which was released Tuesday on Sowell’s 90th birthday.

Dr. Walter E. Williams, another accomplished black economist featured in the film, holds a bachelor’s in economics from California State University and master’s and doctorate degrees in economics from UCLA, according to the economist’s website. Williams went on to serve as the economics department chairman at George Mason University, and has authored over 150 articles for various scholarly journals.

Both men are known for their rock-solid, data-based breakdowns of various left-wing policies that they believe have failed. Yet, as Elder explained, they have not received mainstream praise for their many fantastic accomplishments.

“Ebony Magazine is arguably the most important magazine for blacks for a number of years. It no longer had the same influence it used to have, but every year it has something called the 100 most influential black Americans. And every year you will not find on this list Thomas Sowell, you will not find Walter Williams. You will not even find Clarence Thomas for crying out loud. And the argument is that these gentlemen are pushing views that are antithetical to the best interest of the black community. As a result, Ebony is not going to include them in their issue at all,” Elder told The Western Journal.

Coincidentally, “Uncle Tom,” which pushes back against many of the notions brought forward by the Black Lives Matter movement, was released when support for BLM seems to be at its peak. Elder acknowledged that the “timing could not have been better” and has played a huge part in driving downloads.

He went on to give his opinion of the ongoing protests and mainstream support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

“I’m saddened by the whole thing. The whole premise of course, is that the police are engaging in systemic racism against black people and the data shows the opposite. If anything, the data shows the police are more hesitant or reluctant to pull the trigger on a black suspect than on the white suspect,” he said.

“Now just believing a stupid idea is neither here nor there, that’s all it is. But this stupid idea has real world consequences. It causes the cops to pull back, it’s called the ‘Ferguson effect,'” Larry Elder told The Western Journal.

“The bad guys know it, crime goes up. It’s also causing a young black man to be far more anxious and wary when they have an encounter with the police, thereby making a confrontation far more likely. After all, if you’ve been told by your so-called leaders and by the media that these people, these cops are bad guys out to get you and you get pulled over, why not be wary? Why not have your dukes up? And that’s what’s going on here. And you add to that, the component that we talked about in the movie, these kids growing up without fathers to teach them the kind of values and respect for authority that you need to have. And it’s a cocktail for disaster.”

If the majority of the black community was armed with an informed opinion from both sides, Elder argued, many African-Americans would switch their political allegiance to the Republican Party.

“One of my favorite guests is Thomas Sowell. I’m going to have him on my show today. And one time, a few years ago, I talked to him about the minimum wage. And he said, ‘The minimum wage is probably the most studied aspect of economics and the consensus overwhelming is that it destroys jobs.’ And I said, ‘Well, then why aren’t you guys winning this argument? You see all these spaces that are jacking up the minimum wage, $12, $15. Why aren’t you winning the argument?’ And he said, ‘It’s because most people don’t even know the argument. Most people are unaware that there are studies that show overwhelmingly that the minimum wage creates a disincentive to hire people, causes people to lose jobs, causes prices to go up,'” Elder explained.

“Most people in my opinion are unaware of the sordid history of the Democratic Party,” Elder added, “Most people are unaware, black people, that Democrats founded the KKK. The KKK was what’s called the terror wing of the Democratic Party. Most blacks are unaware of that. Most blacks are certainly unaware that as a percentage of the party, more Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act of [1964] then did Democrats. This history is simply not taught. And why would it be taught in a government school?”

“Uncle Tom: An Oral History of the American Black Conservative” can be downloaded at the film’s website, UncleTom.com.