Bill Cosby mentioned it and blacks laughed. If a white guy said the same word, he'd be lynched. I'd take blacks' claim its offensive a lot more seriously if they expurged it from THEIR vocabulary. An ugly word ought to be bleeped out of social conversation no matter the circumstances.
Hell, I'm mixed race and I use it. It's where I'm from, and I actually don't just use it in reference to blacks, but everyone.
Hey, words change over time, and some that exist no longer do and others that were positive are now negative(the C-word as applied to women.)
People need to stop whining about it and making a big deal of it. It's strictly how you mean the word and whether it has any currency(for instance, not aware that Chinese call each other 'chinks' so it would be stupid to try to use it)