You may think so, but most other people would disagree.
It first applied to Indians but later became common for any young, strong, male persons.
I have never heard it used to describe a young, strong white male person. Ever.
It's a derogatory term and it shouldn't be used (at least to describe young men) on FR. It allows the moonbats on the left to paint us all as racists.
From dictionary.com:
3. Offensive. A Native American or Black man.
-ccm
I have heard it used in connection with whites as often as with blacks, in the way I described. It is used in describing a new wave of athletes entering high school or college. It is descriptive of physical appearance and attributes. The racial aspect is a politically correct straw man.
However, in the unlikely event that others may have ears as tender as yours, those looking for any politically correct reason to take offense, I will take your advice under advisement.
I hope you can see how this unnecesarily neuters our language and our thinking. Racism is no where to be found in what I said.
I've heard it quite a bit: "young bucks," used to describe young, aggressive, testosterone-laden, males, and I live in a state that's only 5% black -- mostly I've heard it used to describe whites. Maybe it's military slang because many or most of my friends are vets.
I did think it was a poor choice of words in the original post, exactly because of the tertiary meaning that you note.
As I understand it, the exact reason that this word is offensive to black people is that it was the term used to describe black men in the slave markets. So IMHO reasonable blacks (and whites who respect them) can be expected to be discomfited by this word. Most people probably don't know the term's racialist history.
If the original poster had said, "young wolves", he'd have made his point with no undue offence to anyone -- in my opinion that would have been a better choice of words.
I am, of course, giving the benefit of the doubt and assuming that there was no intention of stirring things with the racialist connotation of "buck."
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F