Apparently, the word “thug” is now just as bad as the n-word.

In a new ad by Sen. David Vitter’s (R-LA) gubernatorial campaign, his challenger Rep. John Bel Edwards (D-Amite) is tied to President Obama in wanting to release 5,500 federal prisoners.

The ad daringly described the federal prisoners as “thugs,” accompanied by photos of a black man in a do-rag and a white man drinking a beer.

See the ad for yourself here:

Well, now the New Orleans NAACP, which is also leading the fight to remove four historical monuments in the city, is saying that Vitter’s use of the word “thug” is a racial slur and pretty much like using the n-word.

A NAACP official said the ad was trying to “strike fear in the hearts of the white community.” But, wouldn’t the ad strike fear in the hearts of the black community as well?

“It attempts to polarize, in our opinion, the races in our state, by driving a wedge between the black community and white community and attempting to frighten the white community about the possible release of a large number of inmates from the prison system,” said the NAACP official.

“Thug” has become a term that, like others, Democrats and liberal pundits have deemed a “racist code-word.”

These are the other words that no one is allowed to use anymore, according to liberal pundits, because they insinuate racism:

• ‘Inner-city’
• ‘States’ rights’
• ‘Forced busing’
• ‘Law and order’
• ‘Welfare’
• ‘Food stamps’
• ‘Illegal immigrant’

Vitter’s campaign simply responded by saying that the plan by Edwards to release federal criminals should concern everyone’s neighborhoods and all people in the state.