Clinton delegate tells her side of the story

I caught up with Delmarie Cobb this morning to ask her about her claims that Senate President Emil Jones Jr., a Chicago Democrat and Obama supporter, called her an “Uncle Tom” because she's a loyal Hillary Clinton delegate. Both Cobb and Jones are African American.
Jones denies he used the racially charged comment. Cobb is sticking by her story. Here's her version of how things happened. -- John Patterson

Q: My understanding is President Jones said today the term was “doubting Thomas” I wanted to ask you what occurred and what do you think of the president’s explanation?

Cobb: What occurred was I came in the hotel lobby on Saturday night from dinner, it was about 10:30. And I saw a group of people sitting in the lobby, all of whom I know, and so I walked over to say ‘hello.’ And soon as I got over there to them, Emil said, 'Did you see the banner?' That’s the big (Obama) banner in the lobby. And I just looked at him and said 'no.' And they sort of laughed.
And I said, ‘There he goes again signifying’.
I said, ‘He did this at the Bud Billiken parade. At the Bud Billiken parade he (Jones) comes running over to me and saying, 'One day you’ll be on the right side.'
And i said, 'I was on the right side.'
And he had on an Obama hat and he said, ‘No, this is the right side.'
And I said, 'We’ll see come November 5.'

So when I tell that story he comes over to me and he said, ‘There were 35,000 in Springfield (for Obama’s introduction of vice presidential pick Joe Biden) 35,000 people in Springfield'
I said, ‘Well that doesn’t mean anything, just that 35,000 more people drank the Kool-Aid.'
I said, 'See, he will not let this alone.' I said, 'What are you signifying.'
He said, 'I’m not signifying.'
I said, 'Oh, they’ve got another name for it now?'
I said, 'Why can’t you be gracious in victory as I am gracious in defeat?'
He says, 'Well let me tell you, Barack has never ... he’s a clean-cut guy ... he’d never believe in gutter politics ...'
I said, 'OK, let me go, OK, see you guys.'
And he says, 'No, no, no, no. I’m telling you Barack is a clean-cut guy. He’d never believe in gutter politics and that’s why when the Clintons ...'
And I said, 'I know it’s time for me to go now.'
And I walked over to the elevator and he yelled across the lobby: 'Uncle Tom'
And I came back and I said: ‘Excuse me. What did you say?’ And he grabbed me and started laughing. And I said, ‘No, no, no. What did you say?’ And he wouldn’t say anything. And I said, ‘Did you just call me an Uncle Tom?’ And he didn’t say anything. And then I just sort of let him have it. That part I won’t repeat what I said.
And then I left and said good night.

Q: So there’s no doubt in your mind? He said it was ‘doubting Thomas.’ There’s no doubt in your mind?

Cobb: No. And when I asked him ‘what did he say” why didn’t he just say ‘doubting Thomas.”? That’s all he had to say.

Q: Now, just for perspective, if I (white male) were to use that term, it would be incredibly bad. One person of color using it toward another person of color ...

Cobb: It’s even worse because you have no idea what you’re saying. But for a black person to say it to a black person it means you are a betrayer of the race. And there’s nothing in my history that would suggest that I have ever betrayed my race.”
And how this is suddenly being used as a litmus test for being black, I don’t understand it.”
The litmus test that I use for this election, considering I knew all the players, was the same litmus test I used in ‘88 when I wound up supporting Jesse Jackson. And that was, who had the best history with black people and advancing our cause. In ‘88 it happened to be a black man. Putting that same litmus test to effect this time, it happened to be a white woman. And that’s how I chose who I was supporting.”

Q: If Obama comes out of this, as expected, as the nominee, will you support him?

Cobb: I am a Hillary Clinton supporter and I’m here as a delegate for her. And I will support her on the first ballot. When she releases her delegates on Wednesday, I’m going with the Democratic nominee. That’s why I’m here. I’m a good Democrat. But it’s still these kinds of feelings that are pervasive even at the point we are now. We endured this all during the primary, these kinds of slights.
It’s as if someone wants to beat us into submission and we’re supposed to admit we did something wrong.
We didn’t do anything wrong, we supported the candidate of our choice. How is that wrong. Why is there a “them against us mentality” in this race. I’ve never seen anything like this before.
Our candidate got 18 million votes. She was not an insignificant candidate in this election. So why should we feel ashamed because we supported her. I would support her again.