General Discussion

There's such a thing as historical baggage and being sensitive to it. If I were talking with a Rand Paul fan, and kidding him about something the Senator had said, I might refer to "your boy Rand Paul." If, however, the same situation arose with a Cory Booker fan, I would still kid him but I wouldn't use that phrase, because of the historic racist use of "boy" to refer to an adult African-American man.

On the other hand, there's also such a thing as being too sensitive to historical baggage. If an entire area of inquiry is closed off just because it upsets some people, then sensitivity has gone too far. I wouldn't be moved by fundies who objected to research about Europa because it contravened their interpretation of the Bible. I have a similar reaction to people who say or imply that we have to put our fingers in our ears at any mention of race-based differences.