article_snippet.sent: Kevin Shird, another Baltimore native and author of "Lessons of Redemption," said "thug" is "not like the n-word in my mind."  
article_snippet.sent: But, Kevin Shird, another Baltimore native and author of "Lessons of Redemption said in a CNN interview, the term has "been racialized across America, so I can see why people would become offended like that.
article_snippet.sent: Shird, a former drug dealer, also said Kevin Shird, another Baltimore native and author of "Lessons of Redemption does not see the word as an accurate description of the young people who rioted and looted in Baltimore on Monday.  
article_snippet.sent: I have seen thugs, and thugs don't look like thugs to Kevin Shird, another Baltimore native and author of "Lessons of Redemption.
article_snippet.sent: NFL player Richard Sherman has previously called the term "the accepted way of calling somebody the n-word nowadays.
highlights_snippet.sent: Baltimore mayor says Baltimore mayor wants to "clarify" use of the term .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Some community leaders in the city call the term equivalent to the n-word .
  