VB Dems

What is it with Mayor Sessoms?!?

5 Responses to “What is it with Mayor Sessoms?!?”

1. LittleDavid Says:
   April 1st, 2010 at 3:17 am

   How true.

   My experience with the term comes from the height of society’s fascination with the CB radio back in the seventies. Back then, cotton picker was a polite way of using the n-word. Now-a-days all civility is gone from the CB and some will just say nigger. In my occupation, I still need to listen to the CB. But listening is often what amounts to an ordeal I must endure.

   But I am not going to judge Mayor Sessoms too harshly. While his usage of the word is still sensitive to many, for most it has passed into the ordinary parlance. People do not understand the history of the word when they use it. Acceptable usage was popularized in films such as “Smoky and the Bandit”.

2. David Campbell Says:
   April 1st, 2010 at 5:29 am

   Mayor Sessoms has been in politics for a long time, long enough to know the meaning of words.

   The most charitable interpretation is that he was trying to appear folksy to the constituents he perceives to be country bumpkins.

   The less charitable interpretation is that it reflects who he really is, the former board member of a racially exclusive country club.

3. LittleDavid Says:
   April 2nd, 2010 at 2:55 am

   According to Merriam-Webster:

   cotton picking – used as a generalized expression of disapproval

   This fits with my belief that the term has passed into the vernacular minus its racial connotations.

   I was not aware of the racially exclusive country club. Something like that exists in Southeastern Virginia in this day and age? I know racism still exists, and in some areas of our nation people are still bold enough to display it quite openly, but I am surprised it would occur so obviously around here. Perhaps some might say I am a little naive? I’d counter that maybe my expectations are too high.

4. David Campbell Says:
   April 2nd, 2010 at 4:25 am

   Sessoms was born in 1954. Did he just learn the word in its current vernacular, or did he learn it and use it throughout his life with its racial connotations? My guess is that is just the way he thinks and that he uses words like that unconsciously and naturally without any thought that they may be offensive. They certainly aren’t offensive to any of his white male buddies at the country club.

5. LittleDavid Says:
   April 2nd, 2010 at 4:42 am

   I was born not must after that, in 1957. My first exposure to the word was on the CB and in films and through the media reporting on what was going on in the CB craze back then. While the term might have its roots in racism, the word was broadly used as an adjective to embellish the noun you used to describe someone you disagreed with. At times it was used as a term of endearment on the CB. “You might be a cotton picker, but you’re still OK with me.”

   I think there is also some strength in the argument that the term is not completely racial. Not all share croppers were black after the abolishment of slavery. Many were poor whites and they too were cotton pickers.

   According to Merriam-Webster, the term is synonymous with the word damn when used in a sentence. Perhaps politicians should stick to substituting the word darn instead. But always substituting that word all the time might expose the politician as attempting to be too folksy.

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