Cracker (term)
The term "White Cracker" is a racially based slur which is in moderate to infrequent use in the United States. As an insult, when invoked, it is typically done so against a white American.
Though racially based, and when used, most often it's by a black person against a white person, the term does not have the bitter stinging power of the "N word" in that it has not been used for many years as a term of belittlement and spite.
Even so, it sometimes is used precisely for that reason. For example, in 2000, Al Gore's campaign manager Donna Brazile, is alleged to have referred to George W. Bush as a "white cracker" and the few news reports which were made on her comment did seem to indicate that she intended to bitterly insult him. [1][2][3] However, the term is also used as a less severe (though still insulting) and somewhat funny term in certain circumstances.
An interesting example of that can be found by watching the TV animation comedy show South Park. In one particular episode, the character "Chef" (who is black) is planning to get married soon and his friends (white grade school children from the school where he cooks food - hence the name) are at his home, waiting to see him to warn him off from his pending marriage.
While they wait patiently on the sofa, they are conversing with Chef's elderly black father, who, while in the course of retelling them a long-winded story about the Loch Ness Monster, refers to them as "little crackers". Suffice it to say, especially for people enjoy unusual humor about social and political issues - that scene is very funny.
- Links
"Cracker" essay by Karanja Burke