We both know if most of the people responding in that thread had known he was black when he said that, he wouldn't have gotten the reaction he got. He needed to be banned to be fair to anyone else on this board who made that statement, but if he had said that in a black barbershop somewhere no one would care, or at most he would have caused some back and forth between those of us who don't agree that there is a difference between black people and n-words.
The n-words = stupid black people, was started in the black community and is still pushed publicly by black entertainers. The biggest issue with this being non black people trying to apply this in real life situations to disguise their racism. While we may disagree with that train of thought and it is fair to say they are stupid/part of the problem for pushing this idea, no one is calling them and the black people who repeat this thought process racist.
I don't know.
I'm not going to pretend like I'm new to the idea of black people using the word "nigga" to mean "stupid black person." But it's not that widespread. Using it in the context Lil Smoke did won't get you
jumped on in the barber shop, but it
will get you some funny looks and a "...the fuck?" or two. I think the distinction is that Lil Smoke used it in similar context that a white person would use it, in fact I think his comment struck such a cord because there IS a history of white people using the word "nigger" then claiming that they weren't being racist, just using it as another word for stupid.
I've always acknowledged that nigga can be a warm greeting or an insult
within the community depending on how it's used. It's a complex word.
"My nigga!" -- warm greeting used to express familiarity and kinship.
"...DIS nigga..." -- insult.
But neither of these uses comes close to calling someone a nigger. Especially in a context that involves a white person in ANY way.