"worthless thug" has some pretty racist overtones. I'll make to watch more of The Wire to get real info on the causes of crime in America.
Do you mean racist by reference to the etymology of the word 'thug' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuggee)?
That's a pretty obscure use of the 'race card'...
You can dispute whether that's racist, maybe, but being shocked at the suggestion? It quite clearly has a racial element.