A recent news article concerned accusations of racism after some talking head on television used the phrase “your cotton-pickin’ mind”. I didn’t hear the exchange, and I have no idea whether or not there were any intended racist overtones attached to the phrase.
The important word here, I think, is “intended”. Any of us can be guilty of using a word or phrase that others consider racist simply because we’re unaware of the attached emotional weight. Phrases like “low man on the totem pole” or “don’t get gypped out of that” definitely carry a racist charge for certain peoples; but they were used by other groups so commonly and in such a figurative way that the more insidious meanings were entirely lost upon most of us. There was absolutely no offense intended. That doesn’t make it okay, but it does make for a teaching moment.
I grew up poor and white in the South. The phrase “cotton-pickin’ mind” was everyday slang used by everyone I knew. Sure, black folks picked cotton; but where I lived, poor white folks did, too. The hours were long and the work was back-breaking. It was hot, hard labor under a baking sun, with wispy cotton strands sticking to your sweaty skin wherever it was exposed. Only the poorest and most desperate were willing to work the cotton fields. Anyone doing it voluntarily would be considered out of their cotton-pickin’ mind, regardless of their skin color.
So let’s offend another cohort, and bury the hatchet. If someone uses a word or phrase that offends, anyone is within their rights to express their resentment. If someone tells you they are offended by your choice of words, it’s your right to change your phrasing or not. And if you continue to use objectionable words anyway, they have every right to consider you an asshole.
Of course we all have the right to be assholes. But really, where does it get us? When has the world ever needed more assholes?