It's really fucking tragic how pathetic he has become. From hero to zero in just a few words.

I thought that word was ok if they used it? Did I miss a memo?

I suppose so. But I'm sure Jesse was one of those guys, along with Al Sharpton, that wanted to do away with the word and it's related baggage/negativity. But what the fuck do I know. I mean, I'm a cracker.

Um, Alice, I think White Devil is the new accepted terminology. Keep with the times girl!

Shit, I'm so out of date. What about honkey, gray, snowflake, vanilla, The Man, gringo, white meat or white trash?

As a slur against white people, I always liked Wonder Bread. It implied we were mass produced and bland.

Yes, I understand the point of a racial epithet is that you aren't supposed to like it.

Alice those are all good, lthough White Devil, The Man and Honkey are the most commonly accepted. Also note that "cracker ass cracker," is still good form.

I don't see the big deal, all he said was "n***ers" - oh wait, those asterisks stand in for other letters, I get it. Seriously, can people use the actual word when reporting on it or does it summon some kind of physical menace ala Voldemort. Whit, when you read Huck Finn, do you go through and asterisk the bad words? Do you buy only radio versions of hip hop albums - do you believe that your audience is fragile that you can't use the word , is it Jossip or is it self-censoring?

As I read the phrase "cracker ass cracker", all I could hear was the voice of Dave Chappelle. Is that weird?

I agree TangerineSpeedo .. I half-assed a post about it on my blog .. click my name and see it's lameness.

Maybe it's to bypass those internet monitoring programs. A lot of workplaces will search websites for taboo words, in the hopes of weeding out porn, hate sites, blogs, anything inappropriate. Those *** are damning the man, if you will.

My husband got called a cracker by a black dude at the one job he'd been able to find after being out of work for 4 months. My baby was born the same day he started this job. He worked it for less than 2 months, the name calling happened, he was worked up and stressed because of all the grief these guys were giving him, so he retaliated with the same kind of language, and HE was told to leave. Not the other guy! I'm angry with him for not keeping a better hold on his temper, especially since he still hasn't found another job and I can't pay the mortgage and the utility bills are 2 months late and I haven't paid any credit cards in about 4 months….but I'm angrier that this guy was allowed to provoke him and nothing happened to him. My husband did more work than anyone in that place and a couple of them resented him.

OK, that was a little cathartic. Sorry for airing all my dirty laundry, but all the comments about racist names for whites pushed a huge button.

I have a question…If Jackson is the one who used the word, who will help Sharpton boycott? We need someone to step up. Kanye, where are you? Jesse Jackson doesn't like black people.

he totally meant to say "naggers".

This guy actually think Obama is the one talking down to people? Have you seen this guy at a rally? Hearing him speak, it's as if he want to keep the black man down, just so that he will have something to do in his spare time. If everyone gets along, then what will he have?

That reminds me of the South Park episode where Randy Marsh is on Wheel Of Fortune and he's at the bonus round and the wheel says N_GGERS and the clue is "People Who Annoy You". After much thought, he blurts out NIGGERS! and the model goes up to the board and slowly turns the A around to reveal the word "NAGGERS." I laughed for days.

I will not eat them in the rain, I will not eat them on a crane:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKOHrYhH3EE

It was Chris Rock who has a whole thing about "cracker ass cracker". Although I am pretty sure Chappelle would be fond of that turn of phrase as well…

Wow - sometimes topics are so wonderfully intertwined. I thought it would be funny to post Eddie Murphy's SNL turn as the Reverend singing Hymietown, so I went to google, but the Youtube version was down. Another site, podblanc.com, had the video, but here's the catch - podblanc is, if not explicitly then impliedly [is that a word], a white supremacist site. So it brings two recent posts of interest to the fore for me (i) it seems the satirical nature of the sketch is lost on those at podblanc (New Yorker)and (ii) my personal sensibilities prevent me from posting a link to it because I think it would be somehow validating the site with potential traffic from those who are antithetical to its purpose. Awesome - discuss amongst yourselves.

I feel for you tlatzoteotl. Best luck to your family in your tough times. I empathize for you, last month we had our gas turned off for a week. Cold showers are never fun. Stay strong.

tlatzoteotl nobody cares what they call your husband because he is white(double standard)

I also feel for your hard times tlatzeotl I hope things get better for you and your family

Tlatzeotl, I was out of work for six months a few years ago, and it was the worst. I was depressed, lonely, and hungry. Luckily, I was able to move in with my boyfriend's family, but even that was awful. I wish you and your family the best of luck. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in your situation right now. Keep your chin up - you're not alone!

Well it is so easy to whine tlatzoteotl about your situation. Yeah its rough if that had been a black person saying they can't find a job the first thing most of you would say is you probably aren't looking. I'm sorry your husband lost his job the employeers are completely ignorant. They made a mistake they should have fired all of the name callers (including your husband). Don't continue to blame others for your situation. Pick up your self,dig in those heels and help your husband find a job or two.
Besides why are you on the computer at 2:00 p.m….get to work!

…says the person on at 3:36.

Sniff, sniff. What is that smell? Teen spirit? No. It is a bit of Hip? Mixed with a saucy hint of Ocricy?

Wow. I doubt you will see this katrbain, or anyone else, but I feel the need to respond to you anyway. This time I'm on at 12:35 on a Saturday, viewing the videos I can't see at work. When I'm on this site at 2:00 in the afternoon during a work day it's because I'm pumping milk for my child and my office door is closed while I'm on my break. Good grief.

I'm not sure why you think I'm blaming others for my situation, or why you think my husband is not looking for a job, but if you want to know the specifics of my life I'll fucking lay it out for you. Yes, I think BOTH of them should have been fired. I'm sorry you can't handle my anger at that other guy for starting it. I do not agree with what my husband did. It was dumb and it hurt our family and if our black friends knew what had happened they probably wouldn't speak to us again.

As for my long-ass spiel about him being jobless, well, that's what a rant is. Sometimes a person needs to vent, asshole. He has applied at every dish-hole and fast food restaurant in town, as well as one of those customer service call centers and a few other places we felt he'd be a good candidate. No one is hiring. It's not his fault. If we didn't mind our son being watched in a daycare, he could go back to building houses, but the fucking housing market sucks anyway and he'd probably not work very often. Anyway, we do mind our child being watched in daycare. So, he looks for second shift jobs and in the meantime he's making chainmail jewelry and shirts at the house to sell at festivals and this little consignment store down the street. He probably spends longer than 8 hours a day making wire coils, clipping rings, straightening rings, widening rings, piecing them together, cutting leather laces, punching holes in pieces of leather, and attaching the mail to the leather. It's hard work and it's even harder for someone who's got arthritis and carpal tunnel. His shoulder is killing him, but he's a stubborn man and he ignores the pain so that he can feel like he's supporting his family. He's actually working on a shirt for a fire-breather right now, and we've sold over 20 of his bracelets. It's feeding us, and once I get my regular paycheck back in couple weeks I'll catch up slowly on bills (maternity leave is unpaid at my work). A couple of our friends are moving into the basement, so that'll help with half the mortgage.

Whew. Again, that was extremely cathartic. I don't feel bad for being longwinded, either, since I doubt anyone's coming back to read this. In case anyone does, thanks to those who offered sympathy. We'll be fine, we have been so far and it's been since November that all this started (the first time he had to stop working because there weren't any houses to build).

Wow..First of all I can get on the computer anytime I please I am a teacher on vacation for the summer still collecting a check. Again it seems like you are on office time posting a comment…maybe my words seemed harsh but I am just giving you the harsh reality of the world. Now as for your profanity laced response, it was completely unnecessary. My mother always said when an ignorant person has nothing else to say they use profanity. Well, you showed how incredibly ingnorant you are. Secondly, if your husband is "working" what were you saying he has been out of work for 4 months. If food is on the table seems to me you should be praiseing and thanking God instead of complaining, whining, and cursing! When the people in who lost their entire lives were out of work for months I did not hear a lot of symphathy from "the majority race" and trust me I listen. See the bible teaches us not to have pity parties and feel sorrow for others but to give them truth and pray their situation gets better. I hope your situation gets better, but venting to a bunch of strangers instead of trusting into the one who controls everything, seems like a waste of time to me.

Oh I almost forgot Lisa (#1) speak only when you are spoken to!

'..and if our black friends knew what had happened they probably wouldn’t speak to us again".
Probably not! Your husband's response to his coworker was simply a manifestation of the subconcious.
How about this…apply for some public assistance and maybe, just maybe, we can start to align the majority's mishaps with the struggles of Black folk who truly need it to get over the hump. NOTE I did say "mishaps". Black people complain, lazy, blame others for their shortcomings…

You know "the majority race" is always talking about how blackpeople see racism in everything and how we need to get over it because it doesn't exsist. Well motherearth you just proved them wrong. Contray to popular belief black paople do have jobs and for you to suggest that we milk the welfare system dry is awfullly ignorant. First of all not all black people complain, are lazy, and blame others, from the comments above you can see that whites do it plenty too. How many black people do you know on welfare ….oh yeah I forgot all of us are! Well I guess you'd better becareful because pretty soon a black man will be leading the United States and I guess he will be the largest welfare recipient of all. It's so easy for you all to make these comments anonymously, but I wonder how many of you racist b***ards smile in the face of black coworkers, supervisors and "friends" everyday. So see racism is not gone its just hidden…But don't worry I'm here to teach your white children differently. Thank God for Black teachers :)

Shouldn't Jackson be lynched for saying nigger? Seems appropriate to me.

katrbain, you can take your mother's words about ignorance and shove them up your ass. I had plenty more to say, in case you didn't notice. You're obviously the ignorant one, because your reading comprehension is extremely poor, and so is your grammar and spelling. I feel sorry for your students. What does this mean? "When the people in who lost their entire lives" Huh?

Cursing is lots of fun, and I think you should know that I don't identify with your god or your bible. My words of wisdom come from the Eddas and my ancestors would never fault me for being angry over my situation. They would fault me if I didn't try to better my situation, which as I said we are. I'm not going to "pray" and "hope", I'm fucking doing something about it.

Oh yeah, I said my husband was unemployed because his chainmail is only barely providing. I'm 2 months behind on all my utilities and 1 month behind on mortgage, and I haven't paid credit cards pretty much all year long. I'm hanging up on creditors every 20 minutes it seems like. He needs steady work.

Anyway, I was wondering if you'd seen my last post, and I'm glad you did. Now let's see if you're as eager to continue this conversation as you were.

P.S. I didn't miss your insinuation that I am a racist and that I and/or my husband is lazy. Think again, bitch. I judge people on an individual basis, just like I think EVERYONE in the world should do. DH lashed out at the one guy because he was a true asshole and had already used racist language against DH. Fair is fair, even if at it's core it's morally wrong. Sure, it shouldn't have come out of DH's mouth, but that guy deserved to know that he was being a hypocrite. Our friends are not "friends". They are real and they are loved, and they would never harbor resentment over white people for working harder than they did (which is what the situation was with DH and that guy), because they put in just as much effort as anyone around them. They also recognize that calling a white person "cracker" is just as despicable as calling a black person "nigger".

Well this will be the last comment I will post on the topic. I hope that the situation you and your husband are going through ends soon, even though he brought it upon himself by responding to ignorance instead of ignoring ignorant people. Oh but, you know what I realized how could he ignore ignorance when in fact that's all he knows because his wife is the most ignorant person around! Additionally if you leave me your number we could go over some vocabulary building exercises to help increase your vocabulary. It seems all you know are curse words but hey whatever. Oh yeah by the way if you pray and put your hope in God maybe your bills would get paid. Have a good life!