My son was called a "cracker" at school today

should I be angry?

moisturizer!

Cheeeeeeeeeezzzzeeee! Mmmmmmmmm!

OP Mom filing her complaint is simply an object lesson to her son about HIS place in the social hierarchy. Verdalaven, you touched on this aspect. Great post and Welcome to DU (I think... )

This thread is depressing and appalling on so many levels. Ah, the outrage based on such scant information welded to TOTAL DENIAL of the dynamics involved... „Stealth racism“ is SUCH a protection racket.

(My reading of this thread is informed by my experiences being the only black kid in class from 2nd to 11th grade. On play-dates my friends‘ parents would hide me under a blanket on the floorboards until we passed the gatekeepers.)

OP: My son was called a "cracker" at school today should I be angry?

?1. ARE you, in fact, angry? „Should“ is irrelevant. Did your child come home crying?

The young lady that called him that was mad/angry at him. All he did was take the ball the away from her during P.E. class.

?2. ALL HE DID??? Did he overwhelm her with physical force???

29. "she" was causing trouble, and wouldn't give up the ball to allow the others to finish playing 4 square. I'm not saying my kid is perfect, but I wanted other opinions.

?3. Is it a physically rough game? Do you know the rules? Is your son bigger than the girl? Might HE have overstepped a boundary too?

44. I'm not worried about him.
but I am worried about "her" getting away w/ it. I don't want this to continue. To me being called a cracker is just as bad the "n" word. It's extremely offensive - and I'm not discussing it w/ my son any longer. We talked about it, got everything cleared up - and it's over, as far as he is concerned.

?4. Is this about YOU and your perception of yourself as not racist or about your son physically provoking another child at school?

##47. If he's white, the proper response to that kind of hate is to admit he is and tell her to kiss his cracker ass.

But that's only if he doesn't want to rat her out and get a teacher involved in finding out if she even knows what a cracker IS. (K: GOOD QUESTION!)

My guess is that this kid lives with a lot of heavy duty trash talk at home and is just repeating what she hears.##

OP Response to Reply #47
58. BINGO!

We have a winner... I'll be sure to tell that to my son! I love your response!!!! Thanks!

?5. Whatever happened to arranging a meeting with the kids and TALKING? You LOVE the suggetion in #47??? Things that make ya go hmmmm....

18. The definiation of cracker is... the racially charged one and is best understood after carefully considering all previous definitions as to how it evolved.
Cracker is also a Black name for whites, especially those thought to be racists.

9. I agree! I've written the Principle stating I want to file an official complaint.

?6. See question 4.

50. Let's just say this isn't the first time she has done this.
She has called other students this name and has gotten away w/ it. I want it on record that my son was called this just incase she does it again. I see you're a defense lawyer, so you can understand having "everything" on record. CYA

22. Yes the young are ignorant at times... I'm in Cary, NC.

?7. Are you certain the child attaches all the meanings to „cracker“ that YOU DO??? I used to think it meant whites were the color of Saltines!!!

NOW FOR MORE INFORMATION:

101. I live in Cary and all of the blacks in Cary schools are bused in from...
poor areas in Raleigh because there are so few blacks in Cary, they have to bus them in from Raleigh to meet their racial quotas.
My son is black and attends a public Cary middle school and there is a LOT of racism in the school systems here. Cary is heavily Repuke.

128. African Americans make up a whopping 6% of Cary's population
Whites make up 83%

AND WAY, WAY, WAY DOWNTHREAD

Tomee450 sums the sorry situation up well...

217. The sad thing about this is that that white mother's complaint will likely cause problems for the black child. A black mother's complaint would not have the same effect for a white child. The black student is likely to be branded and treated differently by teachers and the principal. I've seen this before. A black child misbehaves and that misbehavior becomes part of his record. He is also more likely to be suspended. The white student misbehaves and his parents get a call from the principal to come in to discuss the matter. The white child is allowed to stay in school. If this young black girl suffers repercussions, she will likely feel distrustful and resentful of whites and this will linger for a long time. I can imagine what made that child behave as she did. Here was a white boy taking a ball from her. She probably thought he did that to her simply because she was black and acted because of that belief. Many black children experience racism in gym classes and on the playground.

The bloody idea that cracker is equal to ANY other racial slur is just plain absurd. This whole thread has just blown my mind. I hate it, but i smell a whole lot of racism in this thread.

I'll repeat what i said in post #334

"In my 45 years of life nobody has ever called me a cracker and if they did, i'd say "so what." It's like hitting me with a wet noodle. We all know blacks start being called the N word from a very early age. For them it is more like being hit upside the head with a stick."

Click here to go back to the main forums.

that some of the sentiments expressed here are from people who believe themselves to be progressives. Some of the comments are no different from what one would find at a very conservative right wing forum.

The outrage shown in some of the posts is shocking. It is truly sad that people cannot see the advantages that whites have in this society. How anyone can equate the word cracker to that other word used against blacks is beyond me. It seems that many people simply want to ignore the history of the treatment of blacks in this country.
The little black child will probably have a lot of problems at that school because this mother lodged a complaint. It should have been handled differently.

Something sad is happening at DU. We seem to have been infiltrated by people who feel that whites are the ones being oppressed. How they can think that is beyond me. The last time I looked, most of the powerful individuals, those who make and enforce laws, have white skin.

I must confess I have been quite disheartened by some of the comments I've read.

In München steht ein Hofbräuhaus, oans, zwoa, g'suffa!
Mit 'm Weiz'n kummst aus'm Soacha ned raus, weida g'suffa!
Doch an Church ziagt's nach Goschta Riga fuat, weit zum laffa.
De best'n Wünsch', und mach's guat!! Und mia saffa,
auf Dei Woih jetz no a Mass und wünsch'n Dir: Vui Spaß!

Hab' Dich Lieb!

and I think the original poster asked the question with the answer already in her own mind. I don't detect much openmindedness here.

Thanks K for the summary. I don't know where to begin or whether it is worth the energy. But maybe the most apalling thing many of the posters assert is that "cracker" is somehow equivalent to the N word. Here is the entry from the racial slurs data base that explains the derivation of cracker:

This term is said to have originated in England before the 16th century, refering to the lower class whose diet primarily consisted of "crackers", actually biscuits. Many of their descendants were sent to the Georgia penal colony, hence "Georgia crackers." White people had invented this name for themselves before the first slave was brought to America, although it is still in use today by mostly older blacks referring to whites. Was probably redefined in the days of American slavery by the slavemaster's "Crack" of the whip.

http://www.rsdb.org /

It continues to be a word that white people as well as black people use to reflect class differences as much as a word older blacks have used to refer to a southern white person's "poorness" or "crudeness" rather than simply to his race. I have always understood "cracker" in black parlance to mean "racist" and that's the way it is used to movies and literature. So the girl probably viewed the boys violence as racially motivated.

<edited>

American whites FREAK OUT, particularly if they consider themselves progressive, when their ingrained racism is pointed out to them. The usual response is to deny and attempt to DICTATE DEFINITIONS.

The IRONIC thing is the word "cracker" in the MTV generation has MORPHED! WORLDWIDE!!! My son's boss referred to himself as one and I just doubled over laughing. His partner is African/Canadian, has surely called him that (with love) and he wears the moniker with pride. LOL!!!

The 2 points that SO DISTURB ME in this discussion are

1) NO ONE is DEFENDING name-calling among children in and of itself.

2) Outraged whites are studiously avoiding the issue of physical aggression, because the REAL ISSUE is POWER.

No faux-progressive likes having their racism pointed out to them or their power taken from them.

Wonderful post above!

I knew immediately, before it was noted, that this was in reference to a black female. The "how dare this child" attitude was telling.

Had it been a black MALE, the response would have included a feeling of feeling physically threatened. The white code I see frequently in this community is: Black women should "know their place" and Black males are "dangerous." This attitude, that still prevails today, can be traced back to earlier myths about blacks, "Black males will rape our white women and Black females are hostile, attitudey bitches."

To me, this line says it all: "All he did was take the ball the away from her during P.E. class."

"All he did," mimimizes and justifies the fact that physical force was used. There is NO DISCUSSION about this. In other words, this behavior is allowed and accepted since it is being used by a white person against a Black person.

The focus is on punishing the victim (the Black girl) who merely reacted by name calling, using a vernacular term. The discussion spiraled from there to further deny facets of racism (the word "nigger" is just as bad as the word cracker).

That is simply a ridiculous idea. Having been lived in FL, I heard this vernacular term used frequently and it refers to class more than anything. Upper income whites use it to refer to low income whites. It's often used in an endearing manner. Lawton Chiles often refers to himself as a cracker in attempt to connect with the white working class. It is not a racial slur and does not carry any connotations of violence. This was a cloaked way to deny that a power differentiation exists. Therefore, on some level, this line of reasoning is a means to deny racism exists.

I was both outraged and disheartened to see so many jump on the lynching bandwagon. I've seen this on other threads too. Group lynchings provide the participants with a sense of power, accompanied by adrenalin rushes. They can be addictive for some and this may be one of the few ways they experience a sense of power.

The dynamics of group lynchings parallel those of fundies lynchings of "Godless" heathens. It is a cult like behavior. One group creates a false superiority/power over another and actively degrades the lesser group (the sinners). Racial lynchings are exceptionally dangerous because the superiority/power is not false but a reality of our society.

It's about the quest to maintain power. Sadly, insight, compassion and understanding are are not possible when engaging in these quests and even children are demonized.

Excerpts from: Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail 1963

Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals.

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant 'Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we stiff creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dark of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross-county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you no forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness" then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.

And to your wisdom:

You nailed it!!!

ultraist, I suggest you start a new thread starting with this post.

and it's a damn shame that even after such "freedom" is given, it must still be demanded over and over and over.

If someone black calls someone white "cracker" and someone white calls replies to the black by calling him a "Honky" or a "Redneck", it kind of berates the insult. Same can be said the other way around... If a white calls a black "N!G%ER" and the black replies with "Coon" or "Jungle Bunny", it berates the insult.

Essentially, you make people feel really stupid when they're insult is a joke.

LOL!!!

The young lady that called him that was mad/angry at him. All he did was take the ball the away from her during P.E. class.

Doesn't excuse it, but it's not very nice to take things without asking.

to allow the others to finish playing 4 square.

I'm not saying my kid is perfect, but I wanted other opinions.

The main question is whether your making a big deal out of it will help or hurt your son in the long run.

Personally, I'd hope your son can handle himself against this brat.

but I am worried about "her" getting away w/ it. I don't want this to continue. To me being called a cracker is just as bad the "n" word. It's extremely offensive - and I'm not discussing it w/ my son any longer. We talked about it, got everything cleared up - and it's over, as far as he is concerned.

Good lord.

Put it into a realistic context, please.

Whites have used the term "cracker" for decades to denote whites that live in cracker box style (an architectual style) houses. The term WAS NOT a racial slur to promote slavery and lynchings. Whites have not been subjected to racism on a large scale basis and systemically oppressed as blacks have.

I'd let it go.

Blacks call each other nigger all the time, therefore it in current usage is not a racial slur. Right?

Sorry, both terms are derogatory. Cracker in current connotation carries negatives, just as nigger does. It all depends on the usage, of either term.

Double standards need not apply. If a word's usage is hurtful, it is hurtful.

Why don't you test that hypothesis.

Sure, "cracker" contains negative connotations. So does "fatty fatty two by four", but you don't compare that to "nigger" now do you?

I have never heard a black person being called a "cracker", so yes it is a racial remark and it was almost certainly meant as a racial remark.

The N word is a word that carries the weight of centuries of slavery and treatment of African Americans as subhuman, not to mention continued institutional oppression.

Cracker hardly carries the same weight that the N word does.

Puhleaze. They're nowhere near the same.

We can't accept some and say other forms are bad. It's all bad.

When white people call black people the 'n' word it is a racial slur.

I have read that there is some controversy in the black community over blacks using that term, but I going to stay out of that discussion.

See, nigga first was used back in the Deep South
Fallin out between the dome of the white man's mouth
It means that we will never grow, you know the word dummy
Other niggas in the community think it's crummy
But I don't, neither does the youth cause we
em-brace adversity it goes right with the race
And being that we use it as a term of endearment
Niggas start to bug to the dome is where the fear went
Now the little shorties say it all of the time
And a whole bunch of niggas throw the word in they rhyme
Yo I start to flinch, as I try not to say it
But my lips is like the oowop as I start to spray it


what the fuck are white people so offended about? i'm white and i laugh when someone calls me a cracker because it doesn't mean anything.

black people calling each other nigger is no different than women calling themselves bitches and sluts or gay people calling themselves fags. they take a negative word and use it themselves to take away the power that it has.

it's not a double standard it's the TRUTH, and if you can't handle it i suggest you educate yourself

Go read Tupac's autobiography by Dr. Michael Eric Dyson. He can explain it much more eloquently than me.

If the rap community never used the N word then the only time they would hear it would be derogatorily by the white community.

It's hard to believe that people acutally can't understand the difference.

anybody Cracker to prevent only hearing it from blacks.....

Black people aren't going about calling whites crackers, at least most aren't. The word nigger, however, is in widespread use. Furthermore, I don't recall hearing of whites being called crackers as they were beaten and lynched.

that no black person has ever called me a cracker in my almost 33 years of existence. I don't understand the outrage in this thread.