White Scum

White trash ^[1] ( English White trash - literally “white trash” ^[2] ) is a rough term that is often used in everyday speech in the USA to refer to unclassified white Americans who often live on unemployment benefits in trailers that have low social status and level of education. This category of people often suffers from alcoholism , is prone to delinquency and antisocial behavior. To call someone “white rabble” means to accuse him of social, financial, or educational bankruptcy.

The term appeared in the 1820s and applied to white day laborers who worked on a par with blacks who performed low-skilled jobs and competed with them for the same jobs, resources, or even for the same marriage partners . The expression came into widespread use in the 1830s , and was used by wealthy southerners . Another common expression was “ clay eaters ”, because many white poor people owned farms with poor soil and often went hungry .

Harriet Beecher Stow, author of the classic abolitionist book The Uncle Tom’s Cabin , called one of the chapters of her work Poor White Trash , trying to show the life of white poor people who were no different from black slaves in their position and standard of living.

A close expression is " red-necked " ( English redneck ). Some white Americans living in rural areas may call themselves “ red-necked ”, but they will take the expression “white scum” in their address as an insult. For example, in the film “Silence of the Lambs,” Hannibal Lecter repeatedly calls Clarissa Starling “white rabble,” alluding to her simple origin and mocking attempts to break out of her social environment by joining the FBI Academy.

The meaning has begun to change in recent years, when some white Americans have started to sarcastically or jokingly call themselves "white scum", by analogy with the black musicians or comedians, sometimes called themselves "niggers" ( "nigger"). For example, white rapper Everlast has an album called “White Trash Beautiful”. One of the external attributes of the white scum is a mallet style hairstyle. The American band Powder Mill has a song called White trash .