Grishka,

The word "whitey" does not have the same history as the word "nigger" nor did it ever have the same purpose or the same association with violence and degradation, and consequently it does not have the same power to humiliate or to condemn.

"Whitey" can make us feel a little uncomfortable - but the reason for this is because, just as "nigger" reminds some people that they "come from slaves", "whitey" reminds other people that they "come from slave traders, owners, stealers" etc.

It isn't just about generalization or labelling or pigeonholing, it is about the dehumanizing, degrading, humiliation and permanent inescapable stigmatization and collective psychological trauma of a whole race.

The word "nigger" is not just a stereotype, or a label, or a category, or an insult.

It wholly encapsulates and represents every crime ever committed against Africans and their descendants over a period of hundreds of years by Europeans in the name of progress and civilization, crimes which in a different form are still being committed today.

Thankfully times have moved on to some extent, but ones perceived status as a human being is affected by words, and despite Obamas presidency (which remember around half of America is bitterly opposed to because allegedly he's a Nazi and a communist, not to mention a foreigner etc etc) it remains the case in many peoples minds, that black people occupy a different strata of humanity.