Is "posse" a racially charged word?

[KG Living Legend]

No. It's LeBron being an idiot.

This. Always this.

 To Pearl Jammer. bahaha! My Celtic Blog posse, Is an intelligent group of gangster Thug's. Who's offended?

[RIPRED]

Here's the thing - Nobody in this thread is an authority on why LeBron found Phil Jackson's words disrespectful.

True, but you can read the quotes from Lebron on that subject.  It was clear Lebron took offense to the word posse, which has been used in a derogatory manner for quite awhile.  Not necessarily a racist manner, but certainly derogatory.

Tom Brady's posse is upset that people think posse is a derogatory word:

I'm pretty sure it was used often in the 90s amongst African Americans. White people probably started using it to be cool. I guess we never got the memo it's not cool to say anymore.

As someone who lived through the 90's, I don't recall the word "posse" being reserved for African-Americans. It's just a word that has been used in several contexts throughout history. I don't remember it being a racially charged word, but maybe other folks had different experiences than I did.

[kozlodoev]

As someone who lived through the 90's, I don't recall the word "posse" being reserved for African-Americans. It's just a word that has been used in several contexts throughout history.

Posse is reserved for clowns. That is all.

[fairweatherfan]

As someone who lived through the 90's, I don't recall the word "posse" being reserved for African-Americans. It's just a word that has been used in several contexts throughout history. I don't remember it being a racially charged word, but maybe other folks had different experiences than I did.

Mentioned this earlier but since he was growing up then, LeBron probably mainly remembers it being used derogatorily toward Iverson and his generation of players, including by Phil Jackson. It definitely felt like it had more of a racial connotation in that context. But yeah, it's used in plenty of other contexts too.

[timriffic]

not racist , but  was meant to degrade  lebron,  A  gm should use   the proper wording not slang, very  unprofessional,

[slamtheking]

didn't realize it was a racist term.  thought it was just a hip new term all the young kids used to describe their group of friends.   man am I out of touch

[Emmette Bryant]

Apparently this is a thing?

"You can't hold up the whole team because you and your mom and your posse want to spend an extra night in Cleveland," Jackson said in the ESPN interview .

The word "posse" struck a chord with James, who has surrounded himself with childhood friends during his career.

Jackson's language also touched a flash point at a time of heightened racial tension in the country.

"We see the success that we have, but then there is always someone that lets you know how far we still have to go as African-Americans," James said Tuesday following the Cavaliers' morning shootaround. "I don't believe that Phil Jackson would have used that term if he was doing business with someone else and working with another team or if he was working with anybody in sports that was owning a team that wasn't African-American and had a group of guys around them that didn't agree with what they did.

This is the first time I've heard it suggested that "posse" is somehow exclusive to blacks, and has derogatory connotations.

It's posse-bull.

[celticsclay]

Do most people just feel like Lebron is being overly sensitive here? I have heard him referred to as the most coddled athlete on these forums. I don't have a real strong opinion on it at the moment. (I used to feel like he got unreal ref treatment, mainly with not having fouls called on him, but now it doesn't seem that much crazier than other star players)