"what is today considered a "racial slurr" was often the "standard" terminology used in the Early 70's (and before)"
Ummm, I was alive in the early 1970s. The "N" word was consisdered insulting then too. Polite then was either negro or colored. "PC" is often just an attempt at forced polite-ness after all.
Your argument may have held water in say the 1870s.
Whether that makes a man a biggot now--for what he said 30 years ago--is a totally different matter.
The n word was a slurr but it was no big deal if you said it.
As the only non white in a small town, I heard all kinds of crap on a 24/7 basis and frankly, it was not a big deal to me then and is not a big deal to me now.
This whole thing is stupid and it is also why "the politics of personal destruction" is causing us to have very poor candidates.
Yes, the "N" word has been a derrogatory term for quite some time, but as you pointed out, some of the other words that were in common use, now are considered biggoted -
But as you also pointed out, even the "N" word was used by many with no ill-meaning intended. I still know a few people who live rather isolated lives that don't care about the world's point of view, they will use the terminology their parents and grandparents used. Many of those same-said people are some of the least biggoted people I know (and that is saying something), but use words that today are considered Taboo.
Am I defending the words supposedly used in the case of this story? No. But only the speaker and God know the REAL state of their heart - and if the words were meant as a racist slur, or as a regular (if unfortunate) part of speech.
Polite then was either negro
Negro is a "N" word