Regarding John McWhorter’s article, “Rachel Jeantel Explained, Linguistically,” it is commonly expressed in much of the black community that the name “cracker” refers to the sound that the whip made when slaves were beaten. It grew from there to refer to any white person who aggressively sought to bring violence or hatred upon black folks.
Still, the article was great in that it tried to shed light on the black/white racial divide that our country continues to ignore. As an educator, I teach students to switch between the Black English Vernacular and “Cash English” (the English used when they want to “get paid”) in that there is NO such thing as Standard American English. Last count I heard, American dialects numbered 276. You may correct me if I’m wrong. Holla’
Aliyah Aziz, Atlanta, GA