Remembering hearing wildly racist stuff from regular folks

[Brisketexan 105,089]

I was in elementary and middle school in the 70s and 80s.  Catholic school in Houston, among mostly white, relatively well-off (generally upper middle class) folks.  Good people.  Fine upstanding members of the community.  Regular churchgoers.  Mr. and Mrs. America, as it were.

But this weekend, seeing a scene of a fight on teh news brought back a memory.  When two kids got in a fight in the school yard, what did the crowd chant?  Yep.  "Fight, fight!  A n_____r and a white!"  Or maybe you knocked on someone's door and ran away before they answered?  That was "n_____r knocking."  And those fireworks, the ones that shot off sideways, screaming?  Those were "n_____r chasers."

This was not back in the white hood and lynchin' old days.  This was 1970s and 80s, decent and honorable neighborhoods of Houston.

Now, I WILL say that we had obviously progressed beyond SOME of the racist verbiage -- for example, I never knew the rhyme as anything BUT "eenie meenie miney moe, catch a TIGER by his toe" (yeah, I didn't know of the previous version with "n_____r" instead of "tiger" until a few years ago -- still learnin' stuff).

So, my black peers -- great guys, all-american types, etc.  Hell, Snacks on this board -- remember that they grew up where these terms were casually bandied about as if they were no big deal. Because, to the group using them, they WEREN'T a big deal.  I think it's important to try to step outside our own perspective, and do our best to imagine what our neighbor's perspective is like.  And for your black neighbor, his perspective includes growing up in an America where, while MAYBE folks were circumspect enough not to call him n_____r to his face, they used the term around him quite casually.  The signs of relegating black folks to clear second-class citizenship, and you'd better not forget it, boy, were all over.  That seems like something to take into account when we say "hey, folks make too big a deal out of racism.  Sure, there's a few racists still out there, but they don't count for much."  That's just not true.  The folks who were chanting those things in the school yard are now business owners, lawyers, politicians, doctors, CEOs, etc.  And yes, some of them are mortified by the memory of the things they may have said as kids.  But plenty of them shrug their shoulders and say "well, that's just how it was."

Anyway, it just struck me this weekend.  We tend to think of open racism as something belonging in the 50s and 60s, and lunch counters in the deep south and Arkansas schools being integrated.  But it was alive and well in hardworking Houston in the 70s and 80s, too.  I hadn't really thought of that in a long time.  But I'm thinking about it now.

[gsoda3 3,253]

4 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

"eenie meenie miney moe, catch a TIGER by his toe" (yeah, I didn't know of the previous version with "n_____r" instead of "tiger" until a few years ago -- still learnin' stuff).

first i've heard of it.  wish i didn't know now.

[Mojo Hand 4,580]

I grew up in Houston in the 80s and early 90s and never once heard the N-word.   Seriously, not even once. 

[BurdineBandit 815]

70s and 80s? The upstanding educated frat "kids" over at OU were singing "there'll never be a n---- S-A-E" chants on the bus like 5 years ago.... and I wouldn't doubt for one second that their peers across Texas share some chants like that in the comfort of their own spaces.

[BurdineBandit 815]

12 minutes ago, Mojo Hand said:

I grew up in Houston in the 80s and early 90s and never once heard the N-word.   Seriously, not even once. 

I grew up there in the 90s/2000s and I definitely heard it a few times. Guess we cancel each other out.

[RDCanecutter 26,406]

70s-80s Houston at that time sounds pretty much like the 60s-70s-80s Alabama I grew up in.

I'd say the early 80s were kind of a watershed where, before, you would have heard it more, to where afterwards, using it was a marker that you were either angry, beaten by life, or just old and didn't know better. I don't think my mom ever said it, if my dad did, it wasn't the usual way he talked. Once in the 60s when I was spouting something about black people this and white people that, he had me put my little child hand on a piece of white paper, and told me, look, I wasn't white, I was tan, and I didn't know any "black" people, I knew dark tan people, so settle down.

I mean, there was plenty of racial prejudice even without using that word. It was in the air, a caste system. But on the other hand, I probably wouldn't have been alive without help from black people, so there was always that.

Edited September 10, 2018 by RDCanecutter

[RomaVicta 29,903]

In the 70s Archie Bunker had a bad impact on the WWII generation. In my upper class neighborhood a lot of men had Bunker posters in their bar area and liked to claim that they were Archie Bunker. It made it easier to tell racist jokes and use racial slurs among friends. 

It's sort of like right wingers using NTTAWWT when referring to gays and actually meaning, wink wink, that there is something wrong with it. 

[gurt 748]

Growing up 90s/00s in Austin, it was definitely known as N knocking and that fight chant was used as well.

I think kids are going to parrot things they hear older kids say, and that as they get older and gain more perspective, they stop saying those things most of the time.  I do believe it is relatively innocuous up until a certain age, when you learn the history of the word and the damage it can cause.  

Of course, if my parents ever heard me or any of my friends call it N knocking, I would've got reamed.  

[HouTex 1,866]

Looking to our past (and present!) we can find anecdotes of racism everywhere.  That isn't news and no right-minded person would be proud of that and I'm not trying to erase our history.  But to the extent your post suggests that "open racism" was a thing that dominated society in that period I have to disagree.

I grew up in Fort Bend County in the 60's and 70's, attended public schools that were diverse (30% hispanic, 30% African-American, and 40% white, and attended UT from 1980-84.  Growing up I played summer league baseball with kids of all races.  They were friends.  My parents typically hosted an end of season party at their house.  Every kid was invited and they attended and enjoyed themselves.  If some of the poorer kids couldn't get a ride my parents would pick them up or make sure they got a ride.  Later in high school we all went to the school wide parties together.  We all stayed friends.  While I heard the the jokes/rhymes you mentioned, I never saw one incident of racial animus in the public schools or at a private gathering.  There was zero racial tension in my high school or middle school.  We had African-American assistant principals, teachers, and coaches who were great guys and all of the students respected them.  

I don't understand why in today's world people dwell on racism. 

[scottsins 1,966]

Just wanted to add another similar reference to the OP.

The n_____ version of “jerry rigging”.

[irishtexan 11,515]

I'm 40 (a man) and remember going on vacation with my family when I was around 10-12 years old. We went through Tennessee and my father wanted to stop by to visit with a work associate. The man was probably in his 70s. When my father asked him how he was doing, he casually begins to tell a story about how he caught a n____r breaking into his office so he pistol whipped him over and over again until he had n____r hair stuck up on the ceiling. He tells this story to my father, who was about 35-38 years old (not yet a man), and his wife and four children. I remember thinking then how surreal it was.

[Brisketexan 105,089]

9 minutes ago, scottsins said:

Just wanted to add another similar reference to the OP.

The n_____ version of “jerry rigging”.

Man, forgot that one.  Yeah, heard it all the time.

Of course, I adopted it for my own ethnicity, and lovingly called the wire coat hanger that functioned as my car antenna for several years a fine piece of "hispanic engineering."  

10 minutes ago, HouTex said:

Looking to our past (and present!) we can find anecdotes of racism everywhere.  That isn't news and no right-minded person would be proud of that and I'm not trying to erase our history.  But to the extent your post suggests that "open racism" was a thing that dominated society in that period I have to disagree.

I grew up in Fort Bend County in the 60's and 70's, attended public schools that were diverse (30% hispanic, 30% African-American, and 40% white, and attended UT from 1980-84.  Growing up I played summer league baseball with kids of all races.  They were friends.  My parents typically hosted an end of season party at their house.  Every kid was invited and they attended and enjoyed themselves.  If some of the poorer kids couldn't get a ride my parents would pick them up or make sure they got a ride.  Later in high school we all went to the school wide parties together.  We all stayed friends.  While I heard the the jokes/rhymes you mentioned, I never saw one incident of racial animus in the public schools or at a private gathering.  There was zero racial tension in my high school or middle school.  We had African-American assistant principals, teachers, and coaches who were great guys and all of the students respected them.  

I don't understand why in today's world people dwell on racism. 

Well, it's pretty easy to think that way, when you spent your whole life on this side of the issue:

Instead of this side of the issue:

 

And note, I'm not saying that you were the trigger man - but you lived on one side of the perspective.  Rather, that's kinda my point in making the observation that I did.  Yeah, folks of a certain station were generally civil to each other -- I never heard anyone speak to a black person and say "I won't have any n_____r back talk me!  Boy, you better know your place!"  But I heard the n-bomb dropped.  Plenty.  And casually.  And I heard plenty of racist jokes.  A casual, easy racism - it's almost worse than open racism, because it's easy to deny, and it's easy to ask "I don't see why people make a big deal out of it."  That leaves it unchallenged, and there it can remain, pernicious and working its evil.  That ain't good.  We've never come to terms with how racist our society has been -- even (maybe ESPECIALLY) when we thought it wasn't racist at all.

Talk to folks who lived on the target side of things, and they'll tell you shit that will make your hair fall out.  Hearing the n-word casually dropped. Knowing that they were more likely to be pulled over when driving through certain areas (both urban and rural).  These are real things.  My peers experienced them.  And in some places, they still do.  That's why it's still a deal.

Edited September 10, 2018 by Brisketexan

['stache 21,801]

I'm Hispanic (specifically South Texas Mexican), but I don't look specifically Mexican or even Hispanic, and have been confused my entire life with Middle Easterners or even Mediterranean dark skinned people (Greek for example).  I moved to an Oklahoma suburb when I was in junior high and it was the first time people like me weren't the majority or at least half.  It was a pretty lilly white suburb with few Hispanics in particular.  Kids used to tease me if my dad worked at the local convenient store, except they called it by name and I had no idea what they were referring to.  It took me years to find out that the local gas station was owned by a Middle Eastern family and was known locally as "Habibs."  They thought I was middle eastern and making fun of me for it.  I was young and didn't even know the stereotype of middle easterners working at convenient stores.  I was raised without cable and where I lived the Simpsons was on cable because FOX wasn't OTA yet, so I didn't even know about Apu or Quickie Mart for reference.  It was so weird and tough as a kid because I seriously had no idea what was going on.  I eventually figured shit out and played along mostly with Mexican jokes and found a group of friends who I know genuinely were being satirical about it and not making fun of me personally.  Mostly making fun of the idiots who still were making fun.  High School was still a bit of a struggle, but I'm pretty introverted and I don't think my heritage was the reason for my struggles.  If it wasn't about being Hispanic, it would have been something else.  I was genuinely awkward and hung out mostly with band geeks and honors class kids.   The "Habibs" thing has always stuck with me though.

[Brisketexan 105,089]

5 minutes ago, 'stache said:

I'm Hispanic (specifically South Texas Mexican), but I don't look specifically Mexican or even Hispanic, and have been confused my entire life with Middle Easterners or even Mediterranean dark skinned people (Greek for example).  I moved to an Oklahoma suburb when I was in junior high and it was the first time people like me weren't the majority or at least half.  It was a pretty lilly white suburb with few Hispanics in particular.  Kids used to tease me if my dad worked at the local convenient store, except they called it by name and I had no idea what they were referring to.  It took me years to find out that the local gas station was owned by a Middle Eastern family and was known locally as "Habibs."  They thought I was middle eastern and making fun of me for it.  I was young and didn't even know the stereotype of middle easterners working at convenient stores.  I was raised without cable and where I lived the Simpsons was on cable because FOX wasn't OTA yet, so I didn't even know about Apu or Quickie Mart for reference.  It was so weird and tough as a kid because I seriously had no idea what was going on.  I eventually figured shit out and played along mostly with Mexican jokes and found a group of friends who I know genuinely were being satirical about it and not making fun of me personally.  Mostly making fun of the idiots who still were making fun.  High School was still a bit of a struggle, but I'm pretty introverted and I don't think my heritage was the reason for my struggles.  If it wasn't about being Hispanic, it would have been something else.  I was genuinely awkward and hung out mostly with band geeks and honors class kids.   The "Habibs" thing has always stuck with me though.

It goes the other way, too, hombre!

['stache 21,801]

6 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

It goes the other way, too, hombre!

LOL, there was plenty of this in my repertoire as I got more comfortable with who I was and started making real friends.  I even flirted regularly with cute middle eastern girls in college and never really confirmed or denied my heritage (unless we ultimatly became friends). 

Edited September 10, 2018 by 'stache

[Hank Scorpio 17,729]

 

[RDCanecutter 26,406]

15 minutes ago, 'stache said:

I'm Hispanic (specifically South Texas Mexican), but I don't look specifically Mexican or even Hispanic, and have been confused my entire life with Middle Easterners or even Mediterranean dark skinned people (Greek for example).

You could end up like my Mexican friend who found out that his family originally came to Mexico from Syria.

['stache 21,801]

3 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

You could end up like my Mexican friend who found out that his family originally came to Mexico from Syria.

Maybe, but the rest of my extended family looks pretty traditionally Mexican.  I just got some weird mix to look a little different.  And no, my mom didn't sleep with the mailman.  I have plenty of resemblances to relatives on both sides, but for some reason my particular mix of genes is a little more ambiguous on the outside than the rest of my extended family.

Edited September 10, 2018 by 'stache

[Brisketexan 105,089]

2 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

You could end up like my Mexican friend who found out that his family originally came to Mexico from Syria.

Lebanese-Mexicans are where it's at....

 

[RDCanecutter 26,406]

And they called em all Turks when they came over, because of the Ottoman Empire.

Lots of crypto-Asian Mexicans too, they call them all Chinese whether they're Filipino or Korean or whatever. Pancho Villa used to massacre them when he wasn't ordering cavalry charges against barbed wire and machine guns.

[ImissWallyPryor 9,046]

Two instances always come to mind because they were both so over-the-top.  Both were from Hispanics, but they were “white” Hispanics, as the media would say.

1) Summer of 1980, hotter ‘n hell, thanks Mt. St. Helens. I was at a friend’s house on about 10 acres NW of SA, working on an old Willys Jeep we had parked under a tree.  We took a break, and a thunderstorm came up just as his dad arrived home (he owned a small construction business, and I helped on some of his jobs). He saw us going outside to gather tools that were getting wet. He went ballistic, slapping his son around, screaming about how he he may have done n****r work most of his life, but he was no n****r. He even clawed at his own arms to show that there was no n****r skin under his Mexican skin, and asked his son if he looked like a n****r, etc., etc., etc.  He used the n-word no fewer than 10 times. Totally lost his shit.

2) Early 90s in East Dallas, I was rebuilding our privacy fence in the alley. My Hispanic (Mexican) neighbor from across the alley came out to put out his trash. We get to talking, and up comes this black guy comes walking along our alley. My neighbor picks up a rock and chases the black guy down the alley, screaming at him to get his n****r ass out of our neighborhood, and that if he ever sees him again, he’s one dead n****r. He comes back to me and goes on a 5-minute tirade about how n****rs don’t belong in our neighborhood, n****r this, n****r that. He may have exceeded my friend’s dad’s use of the n-word  

These were hands down the most blatantly racist events I’ve ever witnessed. 

Edited September 10, 2018 by ImissWallyPryor

['stache 21,801]

I knew it as "n-word" rigging before Jerry rigging.  It then turned to "redneck engineering."

I was talking about this with some friends once and one said his grandma used to call Brazillian Nuts "n-word toes."  I had never heard that one.  Said she wasn't hateful, it's just what they were called to her.

[Brisketexan 105,089]

12 minutes ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

Two instances always come to mind because they were both so over-the-top.  Both were from Hispanics, but they were “white” Hispanics, as the media would say.

1) Summer of 1980, hotter ‘n hell, thanks Mt. St. Helens. I was at a friend’s house on abou 10 acres NW of SA, working on an old Willys Jeep we had parked under a tree.  We took a break, and a thunderstorm came up just as his dad arrived home. He owned a small construction business, and I helped on some of his jobs. He saw us going outside to gather tools that were getting wet. He went ballistic, slapping his son around, screaming about how he he may have done n****r work most of his life, but he was no n****r. He even clawed at his own arms to show that there was no n****r skin under his Mexican skin, and sled his son if he looked like a n****r to him, etc., etc., etc.  He used the n-word no fewer than 10 times. Totally lost his shit.

2) Early 90s in East Dallas, I was rebuilding our privacy fence in the alley. My Hispanic (Mexican) neighbor from across the alley came out to put out his trash. We get to talking, and up comes this black guy comes walking along our alley. My neighbor picks up a rock and chases the black guy down the alley, screaming at him to get his n****r ass out of our neighborhood, and that if he ever sees him again, he’s one dead n****r. He comes back to me and goes on a 5-minute tirade about how n****rs don’t belong in our neighborhood, n****r this, n****r that. He may have exceeded my friend’s dad’s use of the n-word  

These were hands down the most blatantly racist events I’ve ever witnessed. 

Had a good friend (hispanic) whose dad ran a construction business.  On one occasion, we were at their rural property.  As is typical, all the guys were standing around the smoker, drinking beer and pissing outside.  One of the guys shows up with his contribution of beer for the cooler -- Bud heavy.  My buddy's dad, in accented English, says "Man, why you bring that chit beer?  Man, that's wetback beer!"  Reminding me that even among hispanics, there's damned well a hierarchy and prejudice.

And yeah, a willingness to drop the n-bomb, too.

10 minutes ago, 'stache said:

I knew it as "n-word" rigging before Jerry rigging.  It then turned to "redneck engineering."

I was talking about this with some friends once and one said his grandma used to call Brazillian Nuts "n-word toes."  I had never heard that one.  Said she wasn't hateful, it's just what they were called to her.

Yep, forgot that one.  I didn't grow up hearing them called that, but my wife did.

[South Austin 52,460]

I grew up on Marine Corps bases, and while the officer ranks were mostly white at the time, there was still a lot of diversity on the bases and in the DOD schools, and I just don't remember race being an issue.  My exposure to racism was for the most part limited to history class and movies. 

I do remember being in college and heading with a fraternity brother to Myrtle Beach for Spring Break.  We stopped by his dad's place in Asheboro, North Carolina on the way down.  The dad tells him, very casually like commenting on the weather, "There are a lot of n----rs down there."  My friend, whom I never heard utter a racist comment, had the biggest look of shame and embarrassment on his face. 

[Brisketexan 105,089]

3 minutes ago, South Austin said:

I grew up on Marine Corps bases, and while the officer ranks were mostly white at the time, there was still a lot of diversity on the bases and in the DOD schools, and I just don't remember race being an issue.  My exposure to racism was for the most part limited to history class and movies. 

I do remember being in college and heading with a fraternity brother to Myrtle Beach for Spring Break.  We stopped by his dad's place in Asheboro, North Carolina on the way down.  The dad tells him, very casually like commenting on the weather, "There are a lot of n----rs down there."  My friend, whom I never heard utter a racist comment, had the biggest look of shame and embarrassment on his face. 

Yep.  Among that generation in particular, it was/is dropped just so casually.

My BIL got married in Tulsa.  My wife and I headed up for the wedding.  At some point, I'm riding through Tulsa with my FIL, commenting on how it actually seems like a nice little town (it really is -- I mean, if you gotta live in Oklahoma).  He proceeds to agree -- "yeah, the hospital is really first-rate, and their house is in such and such neighborhood, really nice.  It's a nice town....but they have a real n_____r problem."  I mean, just casually drops it in there, like "but they have bad traffic," or "the winters are kinda cold."  "They have a real n____r problem."  My eyes get big and I'm mortified, and of course, between being shocked and being the outside family member just here to no make a fuss, I just clammed up after that.

[TornACL 7,698]

2008 moved into the suburbs north of Ft Worth. Nice neighborhood. Moving in, and the neighbor lady, maybe about 50 years old, comes over to say hello and introduce herself. She starts talking about the neighborhood, a light complaint about the traffic, and then out of nowhere "It's just nice to have white neighbors."

Uhhh, excuse me?

She then starts pointing out all of the houses in which Asian families live, complains that they keep their yards TOO nice, and then suggests we should rename this street "Ho Chi Minh Trail". I just did the Homer Simpson blank stare / blinking at her, and then said I had to go. I didn't want my neighbors seeing me talking to her, because I'm sure everyone in the neighborhood knew she was the old racist lady.

While she was going on her racist diatribe, her piece of shit Jack Russell Terrier ran into my house and pissed and shit on the kitchen floor.

[Brisketexan 105,089]

Just now, TornACL said:

2008 moved into the suburbs north of Ft Worth. Nice neighborhood. Moving in, and the neighbor lady, maybe about 50 years old, comes over to say hello and introduce herself. She starts talking about the neighborhood, a light complaint about the traffic, and then out of nowhere "It's just nice to have white neighbors."

Uhhh, excuse me?

She then starts pointing out all of the houses in which Asian families live, complains that they keep their yards TOO nice, and then suggests we should rename this street "Ho Chi Minh Trail". I just did the Homer Simpson blank stare / blinking at her, and then said I had to go. I didn't want my neighbors seeing me talking to her, because I'm sure everyone in the neighborhood knew she was the old racist lady.

While she was going on her racist diatribe, her piece of shit Jack Russell Terrier ran into my house and pissed and shit on the kitchen floor.

It's right that I laughed at the Jack Russell terrier bit.

It's wrong that I also laughed at the Ho Chi Minh trail crack -- that's ridiculously racist.  But it's also ridiculous enough to make me laugh.

And yeah, in my experience, Ft. Worth is one SERIOUSLY segregated city.  Maybe 3 years ago, we were in town to visit some folks and see the museums.  Had lunch at some huge mexican restaurant out on the highway somewhere -- it was packed at lunch, like 200 people.  And as we sat there, it was so white inside that I couldn't help but notice.  Not a single black face.  Not a single obviously hispanic face other than the staff.  I don't think I even saw an asian person.  Just, all white people.  I wasn't looking for it, I just couldn't help but notice.

[Bevo 13,573]

I've heard a lot of racist stuff in my lifetime, from Guatemalans looking down on Mexicans to all the stuff that Brisket mentioned to making fun of me due to religion. But over all words don't bother me. Actions bother me. A guy who never uses the n word may be the worst racist you could imagine and another guy who always uses the n word could treat all people fairly and equally. You can't always judge a book by its cover.

[ImissWallyPryor 9,046]

When I was a kid in the 60s, casual use of the n-word was so common that no one really gave it a second thought, even in a small town in SD with zero blacks.

Examples woukd be, “Last one inside(whatever) is a n****r baby!” Or “Eenie, meenie, miney moe, catch a n****r by his toe....”

Our kids went to Child’s Day preschool near MoPac and Bee Cave Rd years ago. One day when I was picking up a kid, I overheard one of the teachers went into the Eenie Meenie rhyme, and I almost dove on the grenade, but she substituted Tiger just in the nick of time.

Edited September 10, 2018 by ImissWallyPryor

[Pescado_Rojo 19,416]

5 maybe 6 years ago, I was in Tuscaloosa in a meeting at a, ahem...large university...when an IT executive from said university dropped not 1, but 2 N bombs in one meeting. On the way back to Birmingham to catch my flight, I called my boss and told him I was closing this deal out in SFDC and never coming back, then told him why. He said "yea, fuck that guy" and I never went back out there and stopped returning his calls. 

[Brisketexan 105,089]

2 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

5 maybe 6 years ago, I was in Tuscaloosa in a meeting at a, ahem...large university...when an IT executive from said university dropped not 1, but 2 N bombs in one meeting. On the way back to Birmingham to catch my flight, I called my boss and told him I was closing this deal out in SFDC and never coming back, then told him why. He said "yea, fuck that guy" and I never went back out there and stopped returning his calls. 

Well, that's mighty white of ya, Pescado.

(Yeah, I just remembered that expression, too).

[MissingInAction 25,027]

My grandma really liked throwing it around casually. Along with every other racial slur. She was quite fond of "beaner" if my memory serves me well.

This was a Jr League member, VIP at the swankiest country clubs in north Texas, and ran a bridge club. 

[CooterBrown 18,005]

Never knew the "pull a tiger" version until I was an adult

Similarly, I never heard jerry-rigged until I was an adult

N-toes were a flower

N-shooter was a slingshot

N-Town was a certain part of my hometown

etc.

[UTCzech III 2,907]

Heard all the ones brisket mentioned. Heard brazil nuts called n-toes.  These here were n-titties...

 

[ImissWallyPryor 9,046]

A lot of the racist remarks are nothing but digs thrown out by bullies. Most people who say these types of things have a reputation of bullying anyone they think is vulnerable. Skin color insults aren’t as effective on kids in the majority group, so they get insulted in other ways.

i started a job at southside SA Handy Andy grocery store in HS. There was one 20+ year-old bully (Hispanic, assistant produce manager, big wig) who would insult me for being white even in the presence of the Hispanic manager. My best friend (Hispanic... surprise!) had started there a few weeks earlier, and he told me to ignore it because he bullied the black kids for being black and the Hispanic kids for whatever he perceived to be their weak points. My friend was a bit chubby, so one guess what he endured on a daily basis. 

Edited September 10, 2018 by ImissWallyPryor

[Gene Parmesan 4,004]

Only heard n knocking as a kid.  Then heard the tiger replacement in Pulp Fiction as an adult.  The rest are first timers.  80-90s kid

[ImissWallyPryor 9,046]

You missed out on the 60s and 70s. Or the 20s and 30s, as Armt Brat would say. 

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2,732]

To this day my FIL still says the N word.  He's 20 minutes South of Dallas and always classifies it as "That's what we called them growing up."  

He's as stubborn as the day is long and listens to no other opinions other than his own.  The only thing I've said is to not say it around our kids.  

[UTCzech III 2,907]

Oh, and there was a certain variation to the "Daniel Boone was a man" song" that may have been a tad racist...

[Bevo 13,573]

17 minutes ago, Gene Parmesan said:

Only heard n knocking as a kid.  Then heard the tiger replacement in Pulp Fiction as an adult.  The rest are first timers.  80-90s kid 

That's funny. I was talking to a hispanic employee a few weeks ago and neither one of us knew another name to call it. Is it ditch and something?

[South Austin 52,460]

27 minutes ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

My friend was a bit chubby, so one guess what he endured on a daily basis. 

A lot of ice cream?

[Pescado_Rojo 19,416]

4 minutes ago, Bevo said:

That's funny. I was talking to a hispanic employee a few weeks ago and neither one of us knew another name to call it. Is it ditch and something?

The kids in our neighborhood call it ding-dong, ditch

[ImissWallyPryor 9,046]

All across the upper Midwest, the fields and pastures are littered with roundish stones that got their shape and gnarly texture from being pushed along by Ice Age glaciers. Most of the round ones were softball to basketball in size.  My dad says that he always knew them as n****r heads, and never gave it a second thought until he got older.

I think a lot of those expressions were used by people who would never use the n-word as an insult. Weird, I know, but I used a few of them casually when I was younger without ever thinking of them as an insult. 

[Cousin Strawberry 1,261]

3 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

"Fight, fight!  A n_____r and a white!" 

Was the second portion of the chant ever used?  "If the white don't win, we all jump in!"

Edited September 10, 2018 by Cousin Strawberry

[F250 28,766]

1 hour ago, RDCanecutter said:

You could end up like my Mexican friend who found out that his family originally came to Mexico from Syria.

My son's best friend found out he wasn't Mexican until the 5th grade. We were at a BBQ and the kid said something to my son in Spanish. My son didn't understand so I translated for him. His buddy told him "you would understand these things if you were a Mexican like me instead of a white boy." LOL I told him "Marcos, I am pretty sure he has more Mexican in him than you." The kid replies, "no way, I got a tan, dark hair and speak Spanish." The kids father speaks up, "Dude, your mom and me are Cuban, you were born in Miami."

The kid had a momentary existential crisis.

[Digdogger 1,344]

Can we rename this thread "The Good Ol' Days"?

[Incredulity 11,660]

I was looking at an old recorded plat map of a relatives out of state property years ago.

Right on the back of the property was a creek named "N-word Jack Creek".

From a different time obviously.

[deadshank 24,652]

From my early years.  This was about as crazy as it could get.  Herschel, the owner, was in fact black and had no qualms about telling you he was the HNIC.

[TwiceHorn 31,443]

For the record, the proper term is "jury rig."  It is an English nautical term.  Jerry rig, Nagger rig, all of them are corruptions of that.

 

And  you heard more racist stuff from the greatest generation because they are the oldest generation you know.  Had you heard their parents, and grandparents, it would have been worse.  I might have been more aware of it than most because it was absolutely forbidden in our house.  I would have had better luck telling Mom to fuck herself than drop an n-bomb.

[Spankytoes 1,739]

11 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

For the record, the proper term is "jury rig."  It is an English nautical term.  Jerry rig, Nagger rig, all of them are corruptions of that.

 

And  you heard more racist stuff from the greatest generation because they are the oldest generation you know.  Had you heard their parents, and grandparents, it would have been worse.  I might have been more aware of it than most because it was absolutely forbidden in our house.  I would have had better luck telling Mom to fuck herself than drop an n-bomb.

This.

Both grandparents are still alive on my mom's side. My grandmother has intimated prejudices against blacks from time to time, but I've never heard her say the n-word. She's not a fan of the Jews though. My grandfather has never once shown me that he has a racist bone in his body. My other grandpa used to say "colored" in the 80's. He'd always tell me to defend against the "colored boy" when he coached me in soccer. Then they adopted a Hispanic girl (My aunt) who has 3 daughters that are 1/2 black. Never heard anything about it again.

My mom would have beaten my ass with a hair brush if I thought about saying anything remotely racist.