This is a really interesting discussion to follow, because I can really see both sides of the issue. (there I go sounding all Canadian again
)
On the one hand, any discrimination based on skin colour is by definition racism. But as has been pointed out, it's not so black and white. Racism can have certian degrees, or at least the language of it can.
For example, guage your reaction to the following words:
honkey
cracker
spic
kike
nigger
They get progressively more loaded, I'd say. That's the nature of words. These terms all have the same basic meaning, (i.e. discrimination based on skin colour) but some are more loaded than others (honkey vs. nigger).
As for some people adopting the word nigger in self-reference, to suggest this is to keep old wounds open is ludicrous. (but not Ludacris!
) Based on my admittedly limited knowledge of the history of rap and hiphop, I think it was originally adopted as a shocking, "take back the power" move, and has now just become commonplace. But I think blacks are the only ones to have adopted their own racial slur. You never hear jews calling each other kikes, do you?