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The N-word vs. "Honky" debate

I recently heard about a person contending that television had a double-standard on slurs, as while they'd bleep out the n-word, they'd air the term "honky." I then had a friendly debate with a third party about the matter.

First off, if we want to purely look at things from a black-and-white perspective (no pun intended), all slurs are bad. However, as is almost always the case, things are more complex than that.

There are several reasons why the n-word is regarded as a more offensive slur than "honky," the biggest of which is historical context. The etymology of honky is unclear. One theory is that the term originated in Oak Hill, West Virginia, where coal miners were segregated into three groups: 1) Whites, 2) Blacks, and 3) Non-English-speaking whites knows as "Hunk Hill." Another theory is that the term started in the meat-packing plants of Chicago, where black employees referred to white employees as "honkies." Yet another theory is that the term first revolved around white people honking their car horns to garner attention. Regardless of the term's actual etymology, it's tended to be regarded as derogatory towards whites, but has also been affiliated with country music (honkytonk), has become much less common in usage over the decades, and if a white person were to ever get called "honky" on the street by a random person nowadays, I have a wild hunch he'd showcase a look of utter bemusement, potentially chuckling in the process.

The history of the n-word is far different. During the times of slavery, what were black slaves often called by their masters? The n-word. When they were whipped, what were they often called? The n-word. As a side note, the slur "cracker" actually derives from the cracking of the whips used on black slaves by their white masters. When blacks were hung or beaten by white supremacists, what were they often called? The n-word. Sadly, the n-word carries with it the history of slavery, physical abuse, murder, and more recently, the suppression of human/Constitutional rights. At least in this country, the term honky has no such history. There was never a point when black masters in this country called their white slaves by that name. There was never a time when, as they were whipping the backs of their white slaves, black masters called them "honkies." No matter the current usage of the terms, while they may both be similarly bad on the surface, history renders them starkly different when digging a little deeper. While country music will commonly come to mind when a black person calls a white person a "honky," slavery, beatings, and death commonly come to mind when a white person calls a black person the n-word. There's a good reason why people know the n-word as just that. They'd have no idea what you were talking about if you referred to "honky" as the h-word. Period.

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