Is The Term 'White Trash' Racist...?

Answer 1

sure it is!

unless you are, in fact, referring to trash that is white... like a milk carton, or paper towels!


Think about it... if you called someone "black trash" how would they react?

Answer 2

Trash is trash, and you'll find it among any people. It's just that we don't have terms such as "black trash", "hispanic trash" or "asian trash" because those races have a bunch of other pejorative terms already. "White trash", much like with other slurs, is only considered racist when used by somebody from a different race. Otherwise, it's at most just classist (i.e. if you look down on a fellow white guy just because he's poor, lives in the country, and does hard manual labor for a living).

Answer 3

Not at all, I am white British and use it as a descriptive term for those I see as useless, idle, ignorant, ill-educated, uncouth, and beyond redemption. I thank my American cousins for introducing the term to me and my country. Does that make me a racist? Speak as you find is my opinion, regardless of race or whatever, judge the individual if you must, such is mankind, it is only wrong when you denigrate a whole race or culture on personal experience. Language and it's conotations is how we humans converse. We have been used to it for centuries, only now when the "thought police" are the dictators has it become such an issue. Their desire is to silence you, if you cannot speak you cannot object. A Q, why is it that just when most races and cultures were busy "getting on with it" and doing ok, the politicos finally stuck their snouts in? Where were they when there was real inequality, injustice and overt racism?

Answer 4

Here in UK where the term "White Trash" is understood but not used [much anyway] we have our own word and it is Chav [chavs].

What exactly is a chav? This is usually a white person a girl, who in most cases has what we call the Croydon face-lift, the hair pulled back so tight in a ponytail it acts as a sort of face-lift. She also wears a grubby pink track-suit with lots of flabby midriff showing and large cheap gold coloured ear-rings.

A chav in UK equates to "Trailer Trash" in USA. We don't really use expressions such as "White Trash" - makes little sense here, mainly because the word trash is equal to the English word rubbish.

Also here in UK about 85% of the population are classified as Anglo-Saxon, add to this the very large native population of assorted Celts and this pushes it up to about 96%. Only about 4% of the UK pop is non-white or black.

The above figs are based upon a rough roundup of the census figs for the year 2000.

Answer 5

It's like using the N word , it's ok for one white to refer to another white as "white trash" but it's suddenly racist if any non white uses the term. In honor of Al Sharpton, Jessie Jackson et. al. I think it should be illegal for non whites to call others honkey, whitey, cracker etc.... Whats good for the goose is good for the gander after all.

Answer 6

White trash is a pejorative term with a classist component targeted at white people with low social status, poor prospects, or low levels of education. It means to accuse a white person of being economically, educationally and culturally bankrupt.

Answer 7

The term white trash began in the Baltimore and Washington, DC area in the 1820s post-revolutionary war reconstruction boom when many poor people immigrated into the area and white and black semi-skilled workers were competing for the same jobs, resources, and even marriage partners (Wray 2007). The origins of the term may come from a racially segregated past, but modern usage of the term places emphasis on the word trash, or the labeling of certain categories of whites as socially worthless.

The term white trash first came into common use in the 1830s as a pejorative used by upper-class United States southerners of all races against poor non-Latino whites[citation needed]. It was synonymous with the slurs "sand hiller" and "clay eater". White trash were hyperbolically assumed to farm ineptly on poor land, and therefore resort to eating clay in order to survive. The term involves both behavioral characteristics, such as mannerisms, lifestyle and overt racial characteristics.[citation needed]

In 1854, Harriet Beecher Stowe entitled a chapter "Poor White Trash" in her defense of her abolitionist classic Uncle Tom's Cabin called Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin. Stowe tells us that slavery not only produces "degraded, miserable slaves," but also poor whites who are even more degraded and miserable. These whites were forced by the plantation system to struggle for subsistence. Beyond economic factors, Stowe traces this class to the lack of schools and churches in their community, and says that both blacks and whites in the area look down on these "poor white trash" (Wray 2007). Max Weber described white trash as "[those] not owning slaves" compared with the planters in the Southern States. White trash were the only type of white people that didn't have many more rights than black people. Many people use it against West Virginians because of the impoverished nature of some residents in certain sections of the state.

Answer 8

If the word "ni99er" is than "white trash" should be too.

See I can't even say it on here, but I can say "white trash" as much as i want. Now THAT's racist and a true double standard.

Answer 9

Apparently it is racist if a non-white refers to a white person as "white trash". It's just like nappy-headed hos--fine for blacks to call themselves such names, but enough to get some white people fired for using it.

Answer 10

In the USA it is not considered racist. Only whites are considered to be racist, and any insulting of white people is tolerated. But don't you dare offend a minority person!

Answer 11

yeah if your talking to a white person..
just like black trash would be offensive unless your talking about rubbish stuff like trash :)