it seems pretty obvious to me what he was doing was contrasting what someone imagines race relations being like and what his actual experience is as a black man

it seems pretty obvious to me what he was doing was contrasting what someone imagines race relations being like and what his actual experience is as a black man in the south It's quite annoying that it needs to be explained like this, since it should be pretty painfully apparent, but yes. Sorry but I'm (personally) not particularly inclined to favorably entertain what someone "imagines" about dog-whistle terminology. Their proximity to the ebbs and flows of southern racial 'charm' doesn't hold a candle to what I actually lived through and experienced first hand for 30 years-as a direct recipient of aggressive, racially loaded behavior and speech.