I don't know why mario is struggling so much, but I'll explain it with examples so hopefully he can follow.
Calling an innocent black man a thug = racist (it's pushing a stereotype that black people are criminals) Calling an actual, violent, black criminal a thug = appropriate use of the word
Try to keep up, mario. It's only a dog whistle if it's not being used accurately.
This...is false.
Like, utterly, completely, false.
The term "dog whistle" does not mean "inaccurate". It means "coded language meant to appeal to a particular demographic."
The word "thug" is used by white conservatives to mean "black" to other white conservatives while giving themselves plausible deniability to go "nuh-uh, I'm not being racist cuz thug technically means ANY criminal!"
Or thug is used to describe a violent criminal. .like Michael Brown. Which you know is true