Continuing to use it as a username is going to come across to a lot of people as, at best, deeply insensitive.
I bet on people intelligence rather than their ignorance. I will eventually have to scale my explanations only if I remain for a too long time on the first page of HN ;-)
Actually this is the very first time I hear a comment about being nicknamed "Uncle Tom". So far in Europe it did not even started a single spark of debate.
If I appear to become a fashionable talent in North America I might consider changing the username to avoid controversy. At that stage I understand it can offend people. Now is a bit prematured in my opinion.
Thanks for raising the issue, I would have not figured that on my own :-)
"Oncle Tom" sounds friendly and familiar in French. You could read it as "Bro Tom", a guy you can speak and what with easily.
The header picture is a picture of mine depicting a french fisherman graveyard located in Iceland. While the company was heading to its own graveyard, I was visiting one. This is how to read it. > https://www.flickr.com/photos/the-jedi/8468239532/