Okay. So, some folks are mad that Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and President Obama used the word “thug” to describe the rioters. Baltimore City Councilman Carl Stokes said earlier this week that such a word isn’t being used properly.
“No, of course it’s not the right word to call our children thugs,” he said.
In fact, he said that if you were going to use that word to describe the rioters in Baltimore, you might as well call them the n-word, which he said on a live television interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett.
Now, while some in the political correctness corner debate about the word, the White House doesn’t regret using the term at all (USA Today):
President Obama doesn't regret using the term "thug" in describing the violent rioters in Baltimore this week, spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday."Whether it's arson or, you know, the looting of a liquor store ... those were thuggish acts," Earnest said.
In discussing the riots Tuesday, Obama assailed the "criminals and thugs who tore up the place," and described them as a distraction from the real issues of police brutality.
Yet, the same cannot be said for Mayor Rawlings-Blake. She has since apologized for using the word.
That night we saw misguided young people who need to be held accountable, but who also need support. And my comments then didn't convey that
— Mayor Rawlings-Blake (@MayorSRB) April 29, 2015I wanted to clarify my comments on "thugs." When you speak out of frustration and anger, one can say things in a way that you don't mean.
— Mayor Rawlings-Blake (@MayorSRB) April 29, 2015Right now, on CNN there’s a discussion as to whether “thug” is the new n-word. We’re back to this again. In January, CNN’s Don Lemon noted how people in every culture have used the word for over a century.
I thought "IRS" was the new n-word. https://t.co/G2YgmkjPOK
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) April 30, 2015
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) April 30, 2015
“If you don’t want to be treated like a thug or be considered one, then don’t act like one,” he said.
Even MSNBC’s Touré acknowledged that the word has been used synonymously with the n-word, but also said you just can’t stop using it because there are people who act in a way that fits that description, whether they are on Wall Street or folks in the streets of Baltimore hurling projectiles at police; Touré witnessed the latter saying, “I don’t see much other word that you can use beside thug to properly describe who they are and what they’re doing.”
When you loot, vandalize, hurl bricks at police, and set buildings aflame that’s not protesting; it’s rioting, which is just another form of thuggery.