Michael richards goes on a racial tirade during stand up act

[TGC]

One thing I just remembered, a little thing called the Constitution that gave every man the right to freedom of speech. Oh, wait, some black people have been offended, there it goes out the window.

Yeah, and no one arrested Michael Richards, did they? He has a right to spew any nonsense he wants, but you can't exactly expect people to agree with it. The KKK get to say whatever they want too, no one's taking that right from them.

"Cracker", if I recall correctly, is related to the fact that, several hundred years ago, white people used to crack their black slaves with whips. One who makes something crack, is, therefore, a cracker. So "cracker" directly refers to a white man's slave-owning history, while "nigger" refers to skin color

That's the first time I have ever heard that. I always thought cracker just meant a cracker, like a saltine which is white in color.

I looked for proof of this, and actually found none. I did find four seperate sites that said what I am now quoting below. This comes from wiki incidentally, but three other sites had pretty much the same information, although worded differently.

[edit]Usage

The term "cracker" was and is used most frequently in the southern U.S., especially in Georgia and Florida. Since the 1870s a nickname for Georgia is "The Cracker State", which is displayed proudly with no hint of insult or irony.

Historically the word suggested poor, white rural Americans with little formal education. Historians point out the term originally referred to the strong Scots-Irish of the backcountry (as opposed to the English of the seacoast). Thus a sociologist reported in 1926, "As the plantations expanded these freed men (formerly bond servants) were pushed further and further back upon the more and more sterile soil. They became 'pinelanders,' 'corn-crackers,' or 'crackers.'" [Kephard Highlanders] Frederick Law Olmsted, a prominent landscape architect from the northern United States, visited the South as a journalist in the 1850s and noted that some crackers "owned a good many negroes, and were by no means so poor as their appearance indicated." [McWhiney xvi]

The "cracker" would be similar to the accepted term of cowboy in the Western United States. (Smith. A Land Remembered)

Usage of the term "cracker" generally differs from "hick" and "hillbilly" because crackers reject or resist assimilation into the dominant culture, while hicks and hillbillies theoretically are isolated from the dominant culture. In this way, the cracker is similar to the redneck. In the African American community, "cracker" is a disparaging term for whites. (The OED cites the 1830s origin of white trash as a word used by slaves on rich plantations to ridicule poor whites.)

Since 1900 "cracker" has become a proud or jocular self-description. With the huge influx of new residents from the North, "cracker" is now used informally by some white residents of Florida and Georgia ("Florida cracker" or "Georgia cracker") to indicate that their family has lived there for many generations. However, the term "white cracker" is not always used self-referentially and remains a disparaging term to many in the region.[1]

[edit] Etymology

There are various theories about the origin of the term "cracker."

The term cracker was in use during Elizabethan times to describe braggarts. The original root of this is the Middle English word crack1 meaning "entertaining conversation" (One may be said to "'crack' a joke"); this term and the alternate spelling "craic" are still in use in Ireland and Scotland. It is documented in Shakespeare's King John (1595): "What cracker is this . . . that deafes our ears / With this abundance of superfluous breath?"

By the 1760s, this term was in use by the English in the British North American colonies to refer to Scots-Irish settlers in the south. A letter to the Earl of Dartmouth reads: "I should explain to your Lordship what is meant by Crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascalls on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia, who often change their places of abode." A similar usage was that of Charles Darwin in The Origin of Species, to refer to "Virginia squatters" (illegal settlers) (p. 35).

Other origins of the term "cracker" are linked to early Florida cattle herders that traditionally used whips to herd wild Spanish cattle. The crack of the herders' whips could be heard for great distances and were used to round cattle in pens and to keep the cows on a given track. Also, "cracker" has historically been used to refer to those engaged in the low paying job of cracking pecans and other nuts in Georgia and throughout the southeast U.S.

[Sweet Holy Moses]

I looked for proof of this, and actually found none. I did find four seperate sites that said what I am now quoting below. This comes from wiki incidentally, but three other sites had pretty much the same information, although worded differently.

No offense or anything, but a fruitless quick internet search does not necessarily mean something isn't true. Being on Wikipedia doesn't make something right, either. Although I probably should have said that the cracker/slave-owner link was a theory -- as all the others are. And since it is etymology, "proof," in the scientific sense of the word, does not and cannot exist. I agree that those theories are out there, and they are all equally viable. I just pointed out the one that interests me the most.

And as for my source, you won't find it online, as its from an as-yet unpublished article by one of my linguistic professors.

[TGC]

I looked for proof of this, and actually found none. I did find four seperate sites that said what I am now quoting below. This comes from wiki incidentally, but three other sites had pretty much the same information, although worded differently.

No offense or anything, but a fruitless quick internet search does not necessarily mean something isn't true. Being on Wikipedia doesn't make something right, either. Although I probably should have said that the cracker/slave-owner link was a theory -- as all the others are. And since it is etymology, "proof," in the scientific sense of the word, does not and cannot exist. I agree that those theories are out there, and they are all equally viable. I just pointed out the one that interests me the most.

And as for my source, you won't find it online, as its from an as-yet unpublished article by one of my linguistic professors.

And no offense is intended to you either, but it wasn't a fruitless internet search. It brought me to the above I posted. And in case you failed to notice what I said, I bolded it above for you, then underlined the other salient point.

Also saying that your "theory" is from an unpublished paper by a professor after you pass it off as fact isn't the best way to prove your point. You can point out "the one that interests you most", as you said, all you want, but what you ultimately did was point out the one that seemed to suggest what you wanted it to suggest, that being that "cracker" is a very derogatory word, when in fact there is nothing you can point to as a way to back up your claims. Whereas my belief that calling someone a "cracker" is in no way on the same level as calling someone a "nigger" can and has been backed up. Even if I did choose to point to wiki. However as you said, wiki is not reliable, so...

From the Etymology Of Hate:

CRACKER:

A poor, white person in some parts of the southern United States who, perhaps, could only afford to eat crackers.

The most common explanation for the origin of this phrase is that it is from corncracker, or someone who distills corn whiskey (cracking corn is to crush it into a mash for distillation). The song lyric "Jimmy Crack Corn" is a reference to this. In the song a slave sings about his master got drunk, fell, hit his head, and died. And the slave "don't care." The usage, however, is probably not the origin of the term cracker.

More likely is that it is from an early sense of crack meaning to boast. This sense dates to the 16th century. A 1766 quote in the OEO2 gives the origin of cracker as boastful. (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language)

a small firework

a slang term used by 19th century Georgian slaves to refer to the cracking of the slavemaster's whip.

a white person (Dictionary of Afro-American Slang by Clarence Major)

However upon further study I this, "Cracker" by Karanja Burke

Don West's poem "Look Here, America" is powerfully assertive and unorthodox, declaring the absence of racism in the hills of Appalachia. Furthermore, West shows his sadness that this racism still exists in other parts of the country. According to the poem, while people are wasting their time worrying about the color of a person's skin, the residents of Appalachia are embracing each other and shamelessly working together. West urges the citizens of America to investigate this problem, and to view Appalachia as an example of triumph. Interestingly enough, "Look Here, America" was published in 1946, some 15 years before sentiments of civil rights became widespread.

In his poem, West refers to himself and White southerners as "crackers." The term is generally of a derogatory nature, and seems to be resident to the South. Despite its negative connotations, it is sometimes seen as a term of endearment, especially among White Georgians, although many Southern whites do not use nor do they approve of the term. "Cracker" has specific ethnic connotations, directed towards White Southerners, and more frequently, poor ones. Of its peculiar dual nature, Irving Allen writes, "'Cracker' is a positive or at least a humorous self-label for many Georgians. But in and beyond Georgia it was and remains a class epithet, and is more recently a black term for any white, Southerner or Northerner, who is thought to be a racist" (59). Peculiarly, in the book Black Jargon in White America by David Claerbaut, the latter, more negative racist definition of cracker is listed first (Claerbaut 61).

The origins of the term are uncertain, though there are a few conjectures. Dave Wilton, who studies etymology as a hobby, presents the idea that the term may have come from the word corncracker, which describes someone who cracks corn for liquor, a common practice especially in early Appalachia. Wilton writes, "The song lyric 'Jimmy Crack Corn' is a reference to this. In the song, a slave sings about how his master got drunk, fell, hit his head, and died. And the slave 'don't care.' (This was a pretty subversive song for its day.) This usage, however, is probably not the origin of the ethnic term cracker" (Wilton, par. 1). Wilton also suggests that the term may have come from 16th century Old English, where "to crack" meant to boast. There isn't much to reinforce this belief, however.

Going along with the cracked corn theory, Delma Presley, a noted scholar, believes that "cracker" came from as far back as the 18th Century, where cracked corn was actually consumed by the Scots-Irish (Allen 50). As those settlers came to Appalachia, the practice of cracking corn to produce liquor became popular, and the term thus followed them. Then, while the Scots-Irish and several other ethnic groups populated Appalachia, cracker was applied to all of the white inhabitants.

Clarence Major, in his Dictionary of Afro-American Slang, lists two rather interesting ideas about the origin of the term. The first is that a "cracker" was a slang term used by 19th Century Georgian slaves to refer to the slavemasters. If this were in fact, true, then the term would come directly from the cracking of the slavemaster's whip. This is quite a peculiar theory, because it would immediately explain the negative connotation that the word has taken. However, there seems to be little or no support for this theory, and no other source that was studied mentions it.

The other theory Major suggests is that, in light of the extreme racial tension of the 19th Century, "cracker" came straight from "the white soda cracker as opposed to say, ginger cookies" (Major 42). Again, this would explain where the derogatory undertones could originate. But as with Major's first explanation, there seems to be no reinforcement for this, and this was the only source that made any mention of such an origin. The former of Major's etymologies does seem to somewhat hint back to the popular cracked corn theory, but it is the only theory investigated that gave such an assertion. Major's definition of cracker is simple: "a white person" (Allen 42). One particular thing to note is that Major's Dictionary was published in 1970, towards the end of the civil rights era, which, along with years of Reconstruction, mark arguably the two most tense ages with concern to relations between Blacks and Whites.

Why Georgia is listed so many times as an assumed origin for "cracker" is not known.

As one can see, there are many possible origins for cracker, and no one seems to have a definitive idea as to where it exactly received its current meaning. As stated before, despite the fact that it was once and still is used as an insult, white Southerners, to however small an extent, have embraced the term, and use it even jokingly among themselves, much like nigger, chink, spic, and redneck have been inverted. As another example of this, Irving Allen tells us that "the term redneck was... applied to any working-class Southerner in the genteel view" (Allen 58). George Wallace and Jeff Foxworthy are two people who were instrumental in this reversal of redneck's connotations.

So, one final question is, just why did Don West decide to refer to himself and White Appalachians as crackers in his poems? West was making a statement, further strengthening his anti-racism theme in "Look Here, America." By calling himself a "cracker," he debases himself in order to figuratively put himself on the same level as his black counterpart, to emphasize that he holds no qualms in holding a black man's hand, and calling him his brother (West, 3.5-8). It's strikingly ironic that many view Appalachia as an extremely prejudiced region, and West surprises America by declaring his happiness to interact with blacks.

Works Cited

Allen, Irving Lewis. Unkind Words: Ethnic Labeling from Redskin to WASP. New York: Bergin and Garvey, 1990.

Claerbaut, David. Black Jargon in White America. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972.

Major, Clarence. Dictionary of Afro-American Slang. New York: International Publishers, 1970.

West, Don. "Look Here, America." <http://athena.english.vt.edu/~appalach/readings/poetry1.htm>

David Wilton <http://www.wilton.net/wordorc.htm#cracker>

I almost forgot, from The NEw Georgia Encyclopedia:

Crackers

The epithet cracker has been applied in a derogatory way, like redneck, to rural, non-elite white southerners,

Crackers

more specifically to those of south Georgia and north Florida. Folk etymology claims the term originated either from their cracking, or pounding, of corn (rather than taking it to mill), or from their use of whips to drive cattle. The latter explanation makes sense, because in piney-woods Georgia and Florida pastoral yeomen did use bullwhips with "cracker" tips to herd cattle.

The true history of the name, however, is more involved and shows a shift in application over time. Linguists now believe the original root to be the Gaelic craic, still used in Ireland (anglicized in spelling to crack) for "entertaining conversation." The English meaning of cracker as a braggart appears by Elizabethan times, as, for example, in Shakespeare's King John (1595): "What cracker is this . . . that deafes our ears / With this abundance of superfluous breath?"

By the 1760s the English, both at home and in colonial America, were applying the term to Scots-Irish settlers of the southern backcountry,

Crackers

as in this passage from a letter to the earl of Dartmouth: "I should explain to your Lordship what is meant by Crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascalls on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia, who often change their places of abode." The word then came to be associated with the cowboys of Georgia and Florida, many of them descendants of those early frontiersmen.

Crackers

Among African Americans cracker became a contemptuous term for a white southerner; among some southern whites it has become a label of ethnic and regional pride, boosted by the election of south Georgian Jimmy Carter to the presidency in 1976. This led to the coining of the word crackertude as a not entirely serious answer to negritude.

Suggested Reading

Kay L. Cothran, "Talking Trash in the Okefenokee Swamp Rim, Georgia," in Readings in American Folklore, ed. Jan H. Brunvand (New York: Norton, 1979).

Grady McWhiney, Cracker Culture: Celtic Ways in the Old South (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1988).

John Solomon Otto, "Cracker: The History of a Southeastern Ethnic, Economic, and Racial Epithet," Names 35 (1987): 28-39.

Delma E. Presley, "The Crackers of Georgia," Georgia Historical Quarterly 60 (summer 1976): 102-16.

John A. Burrison, Georgia State University

So it would appear that your professor simply stole this idea from Clarence Major, despite the fact that it seems that nobody else believes it.

I hope I showed proper "proof" outside of wiki that your version presented above as fact is not and is simply conjecture however.

Edited November 23, 2006 by The Millionaire's TGC

[king_k4life]

Enters Post that in the video the White Audience Cheered & Clapped & agreed untll it became a "Issue" then the concern came.

The entire room erupted in Glee when he said "50 years ago you'd be hanging upside down from a tree"

& in this thread I still se allot of you justifying racism.

That was uncalled for & I wished they would have got onstage & knocked him on his racist ass.

[MalaCloudy Black]

OH GOD IT'S SPREADING

[LL!]

Enters Post that in the video the White Audience Cheered & Clapped & agreed untll it became a "Issue" then the concern came.

The entire room erupted in Glee when he said "50 years ago you'd be hanging upside down from a tree"

& in this thread I still se allot of you justifying racism.

That was uncalled for & I wished they would have got onstage & knocked him on his racist ass.

So, what do you think? Should we be offended by blacks calling us crackers?

[Guest Alex Wipper]

Enters Post that in the video the White Audience Cheered & Clapped & agreed untll it became a "Issue" then the concern came.

The entire room erupted in Glee when he said "50 years ago you'd be hanging upside down from a tree"

& in this thread I still se allot of you justifying racism.

That was uncalled for & I wished they would have got onstage & knocked him on his racist ass.

So, what do you think? Should we be offended by blacks calling us crackers?

[Godfatha]

Enters Post that in the video the White Audience Cheered & Clapped & agreed untll it became a "Issue" then the concern came.

The entire room erupted in Glee when he said "50 years ago you'd be hanging upside down from a tree"

& in this thread I still se allot of you justifying racism.

That was uncalled for & I wished they would have got onstage & knocked him on his racist ass.

So, what do you think? Should we be offended by blacks calling us crackers?

[LL!]

I just wanna know from the perspective of a black person.

[Ananas]

Enters Post that in the video the White Audience Cheered & Clapped & agreed untll it became a "Issue" then the concern came.

The entire room erupted in Glee when he said "50 years ago you'd be hanging upside down from a tree"

& in this thread I still se allot of you justifying racism.

That was uncalled for & I wished they would have got onstage & knocked him on his racist ass.

[Liam]

Whilst I don't agree with Richards doing what he said, I do also kinda fall where Be does, in so far as the whole "racism against white people" argument goes. To me, surely racism is about hatred as much as discrimination, and therefore, even if white people overall hold the position of power, black people can still be racist towards white people.

Hatred of any race of people to me is racism, or making reference to someone with a derrogatory word for thier race as a blanket term (whcih, although nigger is naturally the worst of the lot, does happen with white people, latinos, etc etc), which I thought was pretty obvious. Or maybe I'm just reading things wrong (like Skummys argument). If it's how I read it, surely that means female on male sexism can't occur, because men hold the position of power?

Edited November 23, 2006 by Liam Byrne

[TGC]

I think that's just skummy's opinion mixed in with some facts here and there. Racism occurs daily by every race.

[MalaCloudy Black]

I think the people that have come out of the woodworks playing the 'reverse racism' card are even worse than the guys that claim it's racism. It was a heat of the moment bad decision, but now you have honkeys climbing out of the woodworks going "WAHHHH! HE CALLED HIM A CRACKER!" shut the fuck up and go awayyyy.

[Dapper Dan]

I just wanna know from the perspective of a black person.

Edited November 24, 2006 by Dapper Dan

[MDP]

I don't really find the word "Cracker" offensive. Though I understand why the blacks had to find something to equally offend us.

I forget quite which show it was, but Geore Carlin said that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the word "nigger". "Nigger" is just six simple letters of the alphabet, arranged in a particular way. The only thing bad about the word "nigger" is the context in which it is used. Which is why blacks can walk around calling each other "nigga" and even "nigger". And by saying those two words are different, is completely ridiculous. The way, not to sound stereotypical here, most blacks speak, comes out like "nigga", in the same way they say "da" instead of "the" and other words.

All in all, Richards has the right to his opinion, however I believe he should not have to express it to others who could potentially be offended.

EDIT: Coincedently, there is a marathon of George Carlin shows running on HBO Comedy, and I'm watching intently to find the quote...no I do not have a life.

Edited November 24, 2006 by Mountain Dew Plunge

[zero]

The quote you're looking for is probably, "We don't get offended when Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy say nigger, do we? Why? Cause they're niggers! We know they're not racist."

[MDP]

The quote I was looking for was more like "There's nothing wrong with words, they're just words. It's all about context."

Or something to that. I believe that's what he said as an example of context, but that is a prime example of how it's really context, more than words.

[Guest Titocoolace]

This is going on a little long but...nigga vs. nigger was brought up. It's like when women friends call each other bitch and laugh or ignore it, but when a man who isn't rapping does it, they go apeshit.

[Liam]

I'm not going to say it's more offensive than nigger, naturally, but if cracker is a reference to someone being like a slave owner back in the day, calling it to someone can be seen as quite offensive, likening them to a group of people full of intolerance and such things.

Unless they deserve it, like in this case. I don't agree with racism vs racism, but as some people said, the black bloke was racist after the racial abuse from Richards. I doubt he is in a day to day basis, but words are words, and it was the quickest way to get back.

Edited November 24, 2006 by Liam Byrne

[lari]

Yes.