- Honky
Honky, Honkey or Honkie is a predominantly American
derogatory racial slur forwhite people ."Honky" is a corruption of "hungy" or "hunky", a term which originated in the stockyards and slaughterhouses of Chicago. The term may derive from "Bohunk" (Bohemian-Hungarian), which was used to refer to central Europeans. Black workers and Hungarian workers were two of the largest ethnic groups in the Chicago meat industry. Racial and ethnic tension between the two groups led Black workers to begin calling Hungarian workers, and those perceived as Hungarian workers, "hunky," perhaps in retaliation for the familiar racist epithets to which black workers were subject. The corruption 'honky' emerged shortly thereafter.
"Honkey" was later adopted as a pejorative in 1967 by black militants within SNCC seeking a rebuttal for the term "
nigger ". National Chairman of the SNCC,H. Rap Brown , on June 24, 1967, told an audience of blacks in Cambridge, "You should burn that school down and then go take over the honkey's school." Brown went on to say: "If America don't come `round, we got to burn it down. You better get some guns, brother. The only thing the honkey respects is a gun. You give me a gun and tell me to shoot my enemy, I might shoot Ladybird." [African-American Involvement in the Vietnam War, http://www.aavw.org/protest/carmichael_sncc_abstract06_full.html] [Chamberlain, "'Carmichael Specializes in Hate,' A Contrast to George Schuyler": "Carmichael specializes in hate. He objects, quite rightly, to those who use the term 'nigger.' Then he turns around and calls policemen 'honkies,' making a play on the derisive term that outraged Hungarian immigrants generations ago."] [Associated Press, "Rap Brown Claims Riots LBJ's Fault": "In the sidewalk session,[ Brown] called President Johnson 'a mad wild dog' and a 'white honky cracker.' Honky is a term Brown applies to whites."]In
Australasia and Singapore, a person of Hong Kong origin is categorised as a "Hongky" or "Hongkie", a term that some people of Hong Kong take offense at. They prefer to be calledHongkongers (or Hongkongese). In fact several brochures from the Hong Kong Tourism Board make reference to this new term.On the TV show "
The Jeffersons ", George Jefferson regularly referred to white people as honkys. This usage (while negatively affecting the later syndication of the show to some degree) added a familiar, less offensive tone to the word, which caused some acceptance of the term when used in the appropriate company, much in the same way earlier television shows had disseminated racial slurs about blacks.The word honky may also refer to a particular type of country music, called
honky-tonk .Footnotes
Bibliography
*Associated Press. "Rap Brown Claims Riots LBJ's Fault". Associated Press (Washington D.C.) wire service report, June 28, 1967.
*Chamberlain, John. "'Carmichael Specializes in Hate,' A Contrast to George Schuyler". New York: King Features Syndicate (newspaper column), June 1, 1967.See also
*
Chug
*Cracker
*Honky tonk
*Farang
*Gaijin
*Goy
*Gringo
*Haole
*Kafir
*Newfie
*Ofay
*Mzungu
*
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