*A Newsone article claims White people once attempted to reclaim the word “cracker” in the same way Black people have reclaimed the N-word.
Meanwhile, it’s unlikely that on any given day, you’ll hear white people use the term as often as we hear the N-word, as it is so loosely used within urban communities and in pop culture/hip-hop music.
The article notes that many historians claim the term “Cracker” likely emerged in America, predominantly in the Southern region.
Newsone writes: “Initially, “Cracker” referred to poor, white farmers and laborers, particularly those of Scotch-Irish descent, who worked in the agricultural fields of the Southern states like Virginia, Georgia and Maryland. The term possibly derived from the word “whip cracker,” in reference to individuals of that particular community who would frequently move livestock using whips as a form of labor.”
“Over the course of time it came to represent a person of lower caste or criminal disposition, in some instances, was used in reference to bandits and other lawless folk,” said historian, writer and author Jelani Cobb, in an interview with NPR.
Here’s more from NewsOne:
From 1821 to 1861, Florida underwent a profound evolution spearheaded by the “Cracker” community, according to historian James M. Denham. During this period, immigrants in the South started to reclaim the word, employing it as a term of endearment within their communities and as a means of honoring their heritage. The “Crackers” played a significant role in shaping Florida’s identity, closely aligning it with neighboring states.
“Florida crackers, and generally all southern ‘plain folk,’ shared a strong adherence to popular democracy, a hatred of Indians, and a firm sense of racial superiority over blacks, who they believed were only fit for slavery,” Denham noted in 1993 article, The Florida Cracker Before The Civil War As Seen Through Travelers’ Accounts, NewsOne reports.
“They possessed a powerful sense of family and extended kin networks, which had important ramifications for relations with neighbors and outsiders. They had a vigorous streak of individualism and resolve that derived from living on the isolated frontier.”
As the artlcie points out, the term “Cracker” can deeply offend white people, especially those who don’t want to be associated with the racism and bigotry inherent in the Antebellum South.
Read more about the history behind the term here.
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