Are there racial overtones for the term thug?

Some of us have seen the Richard Sherman pre-SuperBowl interviews where he accuses the media of racism by using the term "thug" to describe him/his actions.

He suggests that it is being used to replace the n-word.

Does it?

The word thug has a long history in English usage dating back to at least the mid 1800s.

It has been extensively used in US vernacular to mean a violent criminal.

To the extent that the term thug has a current association with race, it may date back to the African-American hip-hop group Thug Life that issued albums (including a song entitled Thug LIfe) beginning in the early 1990s. The group was disbanded when one of the members, Tupac Shakur was killed.

At least one source claims that the choice of the group name was based upon certain mainstream reactions to hip hop music.

During the early 1990's, several politicians, including Bob Dole had characterized rap artists as Thugs. Indeed, this was taken as an attack on the hip hop community as a whole. Many, including the late Tupac Shakur, had rejected the criminal implication. It was clear to those in the hip hop community that anyone who attempts to rise from despair would be labeled a Thug. Hence, Thug Life became a phrase meaning "the life one must lead in order to rise through the everyday struggle"; understood by those "in the know" and misunderstood by all others.

Mr. Sherman's reaction may reflect this pattern of characterization of hip-hop and a belief that the negative associations are extended to the African-American community as a whole.

The History Channel detailed the origins of the word "thug' recently. Most people think of a thug as living in a poverty stricken or crime-ridden urban area in the United states. However, the word thug originates from an 800 year old cult called Thuggee in India. Thuggee were known for befriending travelers and killing them with the ultimate intention of robbing them.

The Indian Cult and its practices were popularized and introduced to main stream Western Culture through books such as Confessions of a Thug by Philip Meadows Taylor (1839). Thuggee was also popularized by British Culture as Great Britain Ruled India from 1858 to 1947.

Is it racist? One African American blogger writes,

In a way it bothers me that such a negative word like thug is largely associated with Blacks when it should be associated with Indians. How is it that we get the bad rap when they've been "thuggin" for 800 years!

I have no doubt that people play the racism card when deflecting from their actions, just as Italian Americans played the "false stereotype" card while engaging in (familial) organized crime, claiming The Godfather was a total fabrication.