Do you consider the term "Hood Rat" to be intrinsically racist against black people?
I (white) used the term "hood rat" recently to refer to groups of directionless high school kids who routinely rob stores, assault people and generally cause mayhem in my city. Most of these kids happen to be black.
I was called out for this by another white person on grounds that the term specifically refers to black people, and is a racist slur. I disagreed and said held that it refers to people partaking in the aforementioned behavior and is not directly referencing one specific skin color.
By my definition I've encountered hood rats of every race.
Would like to hear this communities thoughts.
Edit: Thanks for the well thought out comments by humanessinmoderation, 7SyZyG7, lil_lychee and IntelligentShape364
I was thinking of the term in a vacuum. In that context I believe my logic makes sense, but unfortunately the world is not always logical. If the majority of people, both the affected and non-affected believe the term applies to a specific group, then I suppose the meaning becomes centric to that group, which is unfortunate.