today's question about race relations
 

Is it offensive for white people to have a black dog that is named after a famous black person?

If his name is Mr. T, sure.

If you're going to call him Kunta Kinte or the Rev. Jesse Jackson, then I think it would be a bit offensive.

you should name your black dog "untitled"

no wait, you should name him Barry Bonds, so then you can say things like "Barry Bonds just sh*t on my carpet" or "I have to go neuter Barry Bonds"

If I had this dog http://aces.tabulas.com/pisces3jen/109-0928_IMG.JPG, I'd name him Marley.

It's far more interesting to consider having an all-white dog named Jackson.

-RC
--It has a thing for puppies, too, I'm not sure if I mentioned that.

can we do anything that isn't racially motivated?

I hope you're kidding.

And if I wasn't????

besides why does having a black dog have to be named after a famous black person - that too me is idiotic...

I'm mixed and a black dog growing up - his name was Buddy - very neutral name....

We had a black lab growing up and her name was Mookie. We didn't name it after Mookie Wilson, my brother just sort of sad it and it stuck. However, when people asked her name we did say, "Mookie, like Mookie Wilson". I have no idea on the offensive part - sorry that doesn't help you.

Mookie could also do math. Seriously. You could hold up 1 finger on one hand and 2 fingers on the other and she would bark 3 times. She could do it with any combination, but she could never go above 5 for some reason.

I don't know... it depends on why you're naming it that. If your reasons for naming it after a black person are because you respect that person or you like their name or something, then its fine.. but if you're naming it because you think it's funny, that's not okay.

PS: Marley would be a totally cute name for that dog!

Yes, I've always wanted one. Except for the fact that they're really hard to take care of. And I'm deathly allergic to dogs.

I plan on naming my dog Gilbert Arenas regardless of what color he is. He'll drive around with Awvee Storey and play Halo until 4 in the morning. He's going to be awesome.

I kind of heart Gilbert Arenas.

Anyway, the old man has a history of naming animals after jazz greats, and our dog is Coltrane -- I suspect that would've been his name no matter what color he is, but he's black and white. Perhaps he will end up confused. I have no idea.

I think Urlacher would've been an awesome name for him, based on his behavior around other dogs. He's more like a linebacker than a musician.

Arenas is pretty much amazing - he also plays medium-stakes poker on the Internet during halftime, to 'keep himself in the game' by doing something competitive. Unreal.