What do you mean "what's happened in the last couple of years"?
I'll reiterate my point - this bloke grew up in a state where race is a massive issue, Id imagine to him the ferdinand, terry and suarez incidents seemed utterly trivial.
He's probaby pissing himself laughing at the moment...
More close to home than being a black person who grew up in the deep south USA? As you say, a word means nothing without context.
I loved hearing Peter Taylor on talksport today whinging about it, him and all the other PFA old school fuddy duddies just wouldn't have got it.