Yeah, same sort of amazement here that people are upset at me for pointing out the controversy (and that you're getting down-voted as well). I am a brown male who grew up in Jamaica, Queens and then New Jersey and saw a lot of interesting mixtures of culture growing up. It was mostly good but I realize that I've seen more racism up close than most of my friends.
I honestly don't blame them though -- they are right by the books and I understand this stance if you've never seen or experienced the words used in that way.
Though the definition has nothing to do with race, but once you know racists have associated the two, what I don't get is why would you get upset at the person that tells you and shows you that racists are doing this?
Check out the dude below -- he's all worked up and offended that I pointed out that people are doing this. And he's offended at me for saying it's troubling and wise to steer clear of that mess. At least he agrees that they are morons.
And yeah this is definitely a bit disturbing. I don't think it's outlandish at all to avoid certain language once racists start using it to hurt people. If he's fine using word that we've experienced racists use to describe African American babies, that's his call. I don't understand why anyone would be offended or flabbergasted that the word itself has some controversy around it. It's not like there aren't other words to use.