As to the bolded, where then do you put Bob Huggins in this? I think you have to realize it's not as black and white as people who use the word in a hateful/derogatory manner vs. people who make an honest mistake. To me, there remains culpability for someone who maybe isn't using it in an inflammatory way, but should also absolutely, unequivocally know better.
I hope that the take away from my long-winded diatribe wasn't that this conversation is black and white -- derogatory vs honest mistake. If so then I guess I should restate my point because it really had nothing to do with Huggins' words and more to do with conversations between and disagreements within the progressive movement.
To restate my point, it serves no purpose to "one up" potential allies by emphasizing that ____ was "never acceptable" when the point being made was that it was more socially acceptable/normalized language at that particular time. It is pedantic and counterintuitive.
Regarding your question, Huggins
should know better and I think it is fair that we
expect better from him. He absolutely is culpable for his words and actions because this change in language is not something new. It is established that such derogatory terms really don't have a place in modern America, especially given the context in which he used them. His words were derogatory, insensitive, and unacceptable. As far as what that means for him professionally, I don't really know. I think it really comes down to how he responds.
Does he attempt to make amends? Does he take this feedback to heart and seek to learn from this? Or does he double down? Does he simply pay lip service to make it go away?
