But if Paul Mooney or JayZ can make a solid dollar off the original use/spelling when it's been used against them - that's okay.

Look at alllll the money the Right gets when someone on their side uses the coded language. They then win seats in D.C. And inflict pain on black Americans. Women, Hispanics, Latinos, gays, lesbians, etc etc

If they can do it to inflict pain - a man or woman it's been used against - ought to be able to take tat word and make money by entertaining.

Now in the context you gave - she wasn't making money off of it - so I why use it?

Then again - I still call my girlfriends from high school my chicks. I don't know.

It is really kind of a beautiful thing she did to honor her school friends ... and who am I to say anything.

She is a black girl. My nephew is white. They are friends at school. His picture is in the montage a couple/several times.

They all look happy.

He was proud enough to share it on his FB page.

I never made a big deal unless they say or spell it with the er at the end. It can mean mutha fucka, asshole, friend. The way your nephew is doing it just means friends.
I think the words has evolved a long time ago, and they are two separate words with different meanings now. Hip hop culture changed things and it would be stupid to require a certain color of people to mute one word when singing a song.
Crazy enough i can't think of one friend i haven't called my ni*** at some point. It is just not really used in polite company.

because I was in integrated schools until I was 11 and had a whole rainbow of friends because those were my classmates. I knew the word as tacky at best and hurtful at worst.

Yes, the meaning has changed across generations. When those kids discover DU after they've realized the Republican Party is one third crooked and two thirds crazy, they'll have the word police alerting on every post.

I try so hard not to use slang here. I don't think the kids will discover DU unless we try to lure them in.
Twenty years ago the word went mainstream with Tupac and Snoop, and Rap City. I never did the i can sing this song but you can't say that one word thing. Ridiculous! As long as i know what they mean i don't care if they say it. And white kids are not stupid, they which word is which. And they use it appropriately unless they want to be an asshole. Even the jerks who say it wrong on purpose aren't even racist for the most part. Just idiots. They say stupid things for attention like all kids do.
I used to just ask why they were pretending to be racist, and it was usually because they tried to fit in and we were not interested. A backwards way of trying to be friends.

I can't think of a time that I ever used it. Some members of my family could get down with some serious profanity, but the N word was never used. I grew up thinking there was no word worse than the N word.

The post with the montage. The word was posted in the message with the video.

It still okay for his age group. It's normal for lines to get blurred when people start interacting with each other these days.

I really am hearing it as a word of affection.

It's will be nice when can all just be comfortable with each other. The younger the age group, the more comfy we are and close to each other. My husbands sister has two sons from a previous marriage and one daughter now with my uncle. The oldest boy is blond with blue eyes, and the little boy has greeneyes and brown hair, and the little girl too. My uncle is white, my sister in law is half black but the whole family thinks they are black. No reason to hold on to that words and keep using it to separate us all, we are all blending together anyway.
I like it , reminds me of that store in the mall United Colors Of Benneton or something like that from the nineties.

Can take. Words have meaning but language evolves. I am OK as long as I hear it used with affection. Always with me it is important how something is said as much as what is being said. The tone argument works both ways.

Last week, right in front of me, a group of teenage friends got tossed out from the pool, for using the word in such a manner.

The group consisted of two black kids, one white kid, one Asian kid, and one Hispanic kid.

I am hoping they outgrow this as their vocabularies expand and they have more life experience but who am I to say which way will the future go.