The phrase used to be commonly used without any intent of association with any particular race.
Tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of Whites have had this comment made to them.
Does that mean someone was accusing us of being Black?
LOL, the absurdities are legion these days.
“The phrase used to be commonly used without any intent of association with any particular race”
Yep, and my lilly white Dad and his four Brothers all picked cotton in the blazing hot Summers in the 1940’s and early 50’s in the Corcoran CA area.
Yes. It was usually used by whites to apply to other whites. I never heard it used in a way that implied that it had anything to do with race or with actually picking cotton. "You're out of your cotton-pickin' mind" is just a folksy, unserious way of saying "You're a little bit crazy."