Very telling how an OP with the n-word in quotes hung around for hours, while cracker is denounced very quickly both in the thread and other OP's. Cracker does not have the same historical baggage that the n-word carries. It does not. I am a Florida cracker, meaning, my family has been in Florida since 1850 but we were not slave-owners, thank god.

I don't agree with that word being thrown around DU - anymore than the phrase 'White Trash' or 'Trailer Trash'. . .

But at the end of the day - his 'message within the thread' was good. Sometimes the message gets lost when we don't choose our words well.

His message was good. We need to choose our words carefully for maximum impact, especially online.

especially aunt Jenny. My grandmother, who was shot and wounded by the kkk during an attempted cross burning on her property was the same way.

But she just - eh . . . It's real easy for us to say, "That's just awful!"

But when you put these women in context of their time, world they lived in, and what people TAUGHT them through acts of violence - it's kind of understandable.

One thing she would never say was 'white trash' - and that might have been a tip of the hat to the Irish immigrants she grew up with - and her closeness with his grandfather.

although, in growing up, partially, with my grandmother in Georgia, she was cuban, met and married by my grandfather, during Spanish-american war, I learned a certain wariness shall we say. Mistrust is another word for it. You can imagine her and my grandfathers problems. She was brown skin and spoke Spanish which she spoke infrequently. Her accent was discernible. My grandfather owned a large amount of land, large amount for black people in those days that is, 25 acres and that moved them into the 'uppity' category, which they were not. They got along with everyone as far as I could tell. They raised chickens, fruits and vegetables, which I helped with. Didn't like the killing of chickens though. Always kind of squeamish, which my grandfather did not like but always told me I would grow out of. He was right. I also stay away, I have slipped, from the trailer trash and white trash descriptions. They take humanity from people. I know some people that live in a trailer park, one is one of my BEST friends....hope I don't open myself to anything thing there...