Doesn't matter who hears it or whether something nice or bad was said. It is still racist. It denotes that the opinion of the speaker is to separate the color from the man. Trust me, I used to feel the same way you did, until I was educated on the subtleties and what they imply. Not a federal case, just understanding from another perspective.

>But it does seem a shame that "Would you see this black man to his table," would be "racist". Would it be racist only if the black man heard it, or no matter what? What if the manager said to the hostess "Make sure that black man gets our best available table". Would that be racist?... even if the customer (the black man) didn't hear it?
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>Would the original statement still be "racist" if it was uttered by a black man or woman?
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>It sure feels to me like we go overboard to be ultra sensitive about possibly offending people, sometimes to the point of ridiculous.
>While I'd personally would rather be safe than sorry, a federal case resulting from some honest slip-up seems going too far to me.
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>cheers
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>>Absolutely. If a restaurant manager said to the hostess something as simple as, "Would you see this black man to his table," that is racist. But if he said, "Would you see this man to his table, the one over their by the black couple," that is not. In my opinion. Subtle, but there is a difference.
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>>>I don't think there's anything criminal here, but "black rat" certainly could be viewed as racist.