DesertDrifter -- just to note/add -- that term, and the other such you reference, originated with and continue to be sustained by others than us, and will remain alive and in circulation whether or not any of us occasionally make use of same for purposes of ridicule/shame/observation/comment
and specifically as to usages by/among (some) blacks -- while I can't say I'm any particular fan of that, as I'm not, I do understand the history of derogatory terms/epithets being taken/co-opted by those at whom they've been aimed (another example, especially recently it seems, and seems to me closely parallel, "queer") -- so it strikes me that it's not up to me, not a black, to get/be too particularly judgmental or prescriptive about that