answer:It depends on the context If thug is used to describe urban looters and marauders as we saw in Baltimore, and since nearly all of them in that case were black, than a clever linguist could not help but couple the word thug with black looter. And since few if any looters were white, then the word thug could only describe black looters in that context. And since it is not politically correct to couple the word black and the word looter, then thug de facto has a politico-racial connotation since in that context it does indeed imply a connection between the word black and the word looter. The word thug has also been used to describe white mobsters and union goons. In that context, everybody says “Well, that figures”