[Title edited/🔒Thread locked @10 am] Is there an athletic department more fueled by HaterAid & Hater Tots than Michigan State?

Mark ass marks, trick ass marks, punk bitches and skip skap skanks and skallywags, hoes, heffers, hee haws and hoolie hoos…..

Taggart:  Could you repeat that, sir?

That's the hill you're going to die on? It WAS directed at young black male athletes. It wasn't ONLY directed at young black male athletes, but you still chose to call young black men, one of the most marginalized groups in society, a racial slur. 

You can try to continue justifying your using racial slurs by insisting that it's not racist because not all of the people you referred to with a racial slur are black, or you can pick better, more accurate, less offensive terminology that doesn't make you look racist. 

No. Stop being an apologist for racism. 

That's a fair question, thanks for asking. 

https://www.npr.org/2015/04/30/403362626/the-racially-charged-meaning-behind-the-word-thug

"Well, the truth is that thug today is a nominally polite way of using the N-word. Many people suspect it, and they are correct. When somebody talks about thugs ruining a place, it is almost impossible today that they are referring to somebody with blond hair. It is a sly way of saying there go those black people ruining things again. And so anybody who wonders whether thug is becoming the new N-word doesn't need to. It's most certainly is."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5004736/

"

Misconceptions and prejudices manufactured and disseminated through various channels such as the media included references to a “brute” image of Black males. In the 21st century, this negative imagery of Black males has frequently utilized the negative connotation of the terminology “thug.” In recent years, law enforcement agencies have unreasonably used deadly force on Black males allegedly considered to be “suspects” or “persons of interest.” The exploitation of these often-targeted victims' criminal records, physical appearances, or misperceived attributes has been used to justify their unlawful deaths. Despite the connection between disproportionate criminality and Black masculinity, little research has been done on how unarmed Black male victims, particularly but not exclusively at the hands of law enforcement, have been posthumously criminalized."

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/thug-tupac-racism-language-reappropriation-20190417.html

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/opinion/2014/02/13/thug-is-an-easily-translated-code-word/5464895/

"The point is, the words we use are often encoded with racial presumptions. Thus, your image of a California girl is more likely to resemble Farrah Fawcett (born in Corpus Christi) than Tyra Banks (born in Los Angeles) and your idea of a prodigy will not include Phiona Mutesi, a teenage chess champ from Uganda."

https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/eric-zorn/ct-column-thug-language-dan-roan-race-zorn-20210302-fogeavnebnc5hcgbtbt5ps7ndy-story.html

If "thug" was an innocuous term, Beilein wouldn't have alienated the locker room in Cleveland. The fact that it did the damage that it did to his relationship to the team should both tell you how young black men feel about being called thugs and inform you further of the racial context that you are obviously consciously ignoring in favor of just admitting that you fucked up.

i don’t think that the OP necessarily used the word as a slur, per se.

that said, i think we can all think of words of words or phrases that are not, by simple definition, racially charged, but carry clear racial overtones.  even something as simple as saying a team has a bunch of inner-city kids implies something but isn’t overtly, specifically racist.

the point being there’s no reason not to be careful, or to accept correction.  clear communication benefits everyone.

The people you are referring to think the word "thug" means "black people".

Just think about that for a minute.