So? King shouldn't have used it. President Obama has used the word "crackers" to white voters in his campaigns and got away with it.
crackers isn't offensive period.
Says who?
Are only "special" people and groups allowed to "be offended"? What's the criteria as to whose being offended will and won't be taken seriously? Please let me know. I want to be as special as everyone else.
so you're going to take the route of people you continually call PC wusses? really?
The n-word is a word connected to a lot of pain and suffering. If you know anything about history you should know that. And I'm someone who cares about the context of words and can understand when a word is used in its proper context, it makes my blood boil when people try to ban books because of the n-words usage without understanding context (i.e. n Jim in Huck Finn). It is, however, a word with a lot of dark history and negative connotation.
Cracker, on the hand, is connected to no real pain or suffering. It's just a word that makes white people feel weird when they hear it. They weren't shouted that while hung, they weren't shouted that while their rights were being taken away, they weren't shouted that while being burned.
but if you choose to be "triggered" by the word cracker than be so, but don't complain about political correctness if you can't handle that, much less all the whining and complaining about a man not standing for the national anthem.
I acknowledge the pain the one has caused. But I have heard the other term used by black children with whom my now 11 year old goes to school with. (And I have heard this; I'm not just making this up or re-tweeting some idiot's rant.) These attitudes are not inborn; they are instilled by the adults in these children's lives. I would like you to ponder the consequences of this for children (in this case, black children) that are growing up in a far more integrated society than ever before in which to succeed, they will have both the opportunity and the requirement to get along with white persons as peers.
I'm all for civility. But if "civility" is going to be a standard, it ought to be equally applied. Black folks don't deserve to be degraded, but they don't deserve a free pass when they act in a degrading manner, either.
