Cracker Is Not the White Man’s Nigger
It appears that Michelle is somewhat upset over a high ranking California politician using the word “cracker” to describe San Diegans who wish to deny civil rights to immigrants. Capt. Queeg has reduced himself to calling it a “racial slur.”
I use the term myself: on this blog and in everyday conversation. I generally don’t follow the accepted denotation of the word, i.e. “poor white Southerner,” but in the sense that Malcolm X used it, namely “white racist,” especially the potentially violent variety. Therefore, I do not consider the word to be a “racial slur,” but a “racist slur,” or a pejorative meant to attack the racial bigotry of an individual or group.
There may have been a time when large numbers of minorities in this country held that all white were racists; as such, their use of cracker would have applied to all whites. In an environment of encouraged assimilation, this is no longer a sustainable assessment.
But racist whites do attribute certain traits to all Blacks, Asians, Arabs, etc. To paraphrase what Malcolm X famously asked on national television: “What does a white racist call a black man with a Ph.D.? A nigger!”
Whereas I believe a non-white could justify her/his use of the term cracker as a descriptive term for a white person, I would never excuse a white man using a racial epithet towards a non-white. It pains me to see even conservatives being offended over this.
I’m pretty damn close to concluding that one’s level of indignance on this issue serves as a sort of litmus test on their own closeted white supremacy. Pretty damn close.
Let’s not forget when a white woman uses a white epithet. We want to be politically correct, after all.
I bet “tar baby” really gets your blood boiling.
Are you also upset when a white person uses the word “niggardly”?
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Comment by JBenson2 — August 5, 2006 @ 8:48 am
I use ‘cracker’ for more than just white people, but yeah, most of them are white and poor.
It’s a southern obtuseness thing. A back country ‘f-your progress” sort of attitude. It’s a power in numbers thing.
Comment by mdhatter — August 5, 2006 @ 8:51 am
AS a southern and not the last word on the subject, the term “cracker” wasn’t always an epithet. Its thought that it came from poor Florida farmers that feed their livestock “cracked” corn. Today the word is more commonly used in south Georgia and is frequently used among and between white southerns as a kind of friendly insult. It is not quite, but darn close to a subcultural affectation, like when rappers call each other “nigger”. So there is a set of rules involved with the use of it. If you snarl “cracker” under your breath at someone its an insult, but if you say something like “Tom you ol cracker, where ya been”, its considered a kind of joshing. Malkin and Queeg as usual don’t have a clue. Why should they, ya can’t learn much in this world drinking kool-aid in an echo chamber.
Comment by Chandler — August 5, 2006 @ 10:22 am
I do find “tar baby” to be inappropriate, so I don’t use it. Frankly, it’s unfortunate that the only people who seem to use it are white Republicans — really feeds into that stereotype that all white conservatives are racists.
“Niggard,” “niggardly,” “niggle,” etc. are completely different. I don’t hear or read these very often, and I think they’ve been on the way out of regular usage due to the offensive homonym. I believe the last time I saw “niggardly” in print was in my copy of Joyce’s Dubliners.
Comment by Ryan — August 5, 2006 @ 12:33 pm
There’s just no use for the word “niggardly” in everyday conversation. Most people who use it anymore are trying to get a rise out of people.
Comment by Amanda Marcotte — August 5, 2006 @ 4:02 pm
Florida Cracker is a breed of horse rode by cowboys on Florida ranches. On cattle drives, the cowboys would crack their whips, hence the term “cracker” for a poor, white southerner (and the horse). When the Florida Seminary for Women went co-ed after WWII one of the choices for a mascot for the new athletic teams was Cracker. The other choices were Tarpon, Senator and Seminole. If cracker was in contention to become a mascot for a college football program that would eventually rank in the top 10 consistently, why would it be derrogatory?
Comment by phinky — August 5, 2006 @ 11:58 pm
Michelle only takes offense because she makes one hideous cracker
Comment by bvac — August 6, 2006 @ 2:07 pm
Let’s face facts. “Cracker” is (a) not as bad a term as the N-word (it doesn’t have centuries of slavery behind it), and (b) most people who use the word don’t use it to mean “white racist” (although there are those who would say that phrase is redundant).
Merriam-Webster online have this to say: ‘5 a usually disparaging : a poor usually Southern white b capitalized : a native or resident of Florida or Georgia — used as a nickname’
Obviously, the speaker quoted was not using the term in a jocular way, it was a pejorative label with racial connotations (I think we can assume Don wasn’t including black or hispanic San Diegans in his statement). It is certainly not the worst racial epithet, but it is one. Malkin never said it was as bad as any other epithet. In fact, all her comment was that it was “liberal intolerance.”
I’m sure you don’t have to put words in Michelle Malkin’s mouth to take issue with her statements.
Comment by AG — August 7, 2006 @ 3:25 pm
I’m saying it’s not a “racial epithet”, and as such does not represent intolerance. The usage of the term cracker can be justified given the proper context exactly because it does not disparage an entire race as nigger does.
Therefore, your charge against me of putting words into Michelle’s mouth is simply symptomatic of poor reading comprehension. I hope that clears things up.
Comment by Ryan — August 7, 2006 @ 3:31 pm
Who gives a shit? If you’re black and I call you a nigger and you get angry at me then you’re an angry nigger. If you’re a border jumping wetback meximelt then get the hell out of my country. Its not the statement that is ignorant nor is it the person who is stating it. Its the person who the statement is directed at that is the ignorant one. They should just learn to put up with other people’s bullshit because people are going to think/say whatever they want and noone can change that.
Comment by Riley — August 29, 2008 @ 11:55 am
What does a racist black person call a white man with a Ph.D?
A cracker.
Comment by noneya — July 25, 2009 @ 1:50 am