Racism is still fucking huge. I honestly didn't realize it until I learned more about politics, and especially after we got a black president. A 'post-racial' society now that Barry's in charge couldn't be further from the truth. Just like during the civil rights movement, the fuckhead bigots of white rural xtian Uhmericuh have come out of the woodworks now that there's a non-white figurehead

Context is key, but not just context of a symbol of racism, but of the entire concept in the first place. We may not live in a society where the word 'nigger' means much practically other than offending some and demonstrating express opinions of others, but the reality is that minorities are still ridiculously oppressed by the white/powerful man.

Arizona just passed a law that cops are allowed to ask anybody they want for their papers i.e. when they see a Mexican-looking fellow they are now allowed to find out if he's an illegal. This is TERRIBLE racism. It's socioeconomic protectionism for the wealthy white xtians of fortunate birth, and it's far more harmful than calling somebody a spicniggerjewchinkfaggot

Racial slurs can be offensive, but the real effectual racism comes from things so subtle like voting for most GOP politicians. As usual, humans have missed the forest for the trees. We've focused on the symbols without realizing that it's the socioeconomic policy that's the real problem

Having said all that, I'm not sure people like me have much choice but to just avoid racial slurs. Some people still hate them. The internet can be different, and some IRL can be different, but a lot of people think that the symbol is equal to the action, and there's not much that can be done about that