American Civil Liberties Union

It would seem, at least according to a recent federal court decision, that referring to a black man as "boy" has no racial implications whatsoever, but is merely "conversational."

As Adam Liptak reported yesterday in the New York Times, a federal appeals court in Atlanta ruled that John Hithon, a black employee at Tyson foods who claims he was discriminated against because of his race, could not rely on the judicial system for relief. The case began after Hithon was passed over for promotion when two jobs as shift supervisors opened up. This was after Hithon "spent 13 tough years working his way into the lower ranks of management at a Tyson Foods chicken plant in Gadsden, Ala." He sued Tyson for racial discrimination. As evidence, he cited his manager's tendency to refer to black employees as "boy." According to the Times, the court had trouble seeing the connection between that epithet and Hithon's allegation of racial discrimination: