I am not African American but I live in AR and work with lots of African Americans and have witnessed similar situations. Rational people would only take offense if you were saying it to reference them as a category and in a derogatory fashion. If you were referring to a group of people standing on the street with construction going on nearby “you people better watch out - there have been things falling all day” would be OK. With the rational ones “You people are all the same” might be considered offensive…
With irrational people even in the street/construction example above ‘you people’ will always be offensive.
I have had my share of irrational people as well. I’m 6’3", weigh 150 lbs and have arms that seem to hang halfway to my knees. I look like the aliens from the spaceship in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. One day when discussing painting a house I made a (self depreciating) remark that painting ceilings wasn’t hard for me because I had really long monkey arms (the intent was CLEAR - NO RACIAL OVERTONES). Oh man - according to them it would have been easier on them if I had just showed up wearing a white robe and hood. Lesson Learned - add ‘monkey’ to the list of words now banned by the PC police. What I’ve learned is that some people will always be offended - because they want to be - not because you have done anything wrong.
I lived in NY most of my life, and rarely heard anyone say “folks”. When I did, it was usually someone in their 50s or older. Now, “you guys” is definitely NY.
That said, I can’t see how “you folks” would be offensive, any more than “you guys”, “youse guys”, “y’all”, and even “you people”. How else would you refer to a collective group of people? “You individuals”? “All of you”?
I’d say “you folks” isn’t necessarily racist by itself, but it could be taken that way depending on the context. If it was said to a group of black people, I can see how someone would think the speaker was implying “you blacks”. Context is key.
Sometimes it’s not just context, it’s really the word. Walking with my son and Ashdog the other day; son walks to the park restroom while I hold Ashdog’s leash. As son walks back, I tell Ashdog “where’s your boy, go get your boy” just as a couple of black teenagers walk by. Nothing said, but the look! Boy oh boy, I don’t know if it was 1 part shock, and 2 parts anger/frustration I saw, but my face went supernova red. Learned my lesson, though. From now on, names only.
perhaps some people have become too sensative to certian things. maybe i would be the same way. i don’t know
i have a cd by edgar winter, one of the tracks is “white man’s blues”. it’s about being albino, can’t go in the sun, that kind of stuff. well, this guy was in the car with me, he is mexican-american. he heard, like, the first line, and wonked out. smashed the cd and jumped out of a moving car, hollering and such.
i don’t know what the answer to this kind of difficulty is. i just don’t know.