I didn't realize "coon" was a derogatory reference to an Afro- American until I moved from the Dakotas after college and took a job in Northern Virginia. I had taken along a puppy named Coon for obvious facial markings. I rented a home in a racially mixed neighborhood with a large wooded backyard for the pup and would call him into the house by calling "Here Coon, here Coon, come on Coon Boy". I invited a new friend from work over who happened to be black and he set me straight and I changed the dogs name. Then a few years later I was invited by white friends to go "coon" hunting, and I was shocked and declined on obvious moral and legal grounds. After a lot of laughter they set me straight, explaining we would be hunting raccoon. What they didn't explain was it involved wandering around at night in the woods with a bunch of drunk men carrying loaded guns. It didn't however take any great stretch of the imagination to see there was a dual meaning to this "sport" and I could easily envision these guys wearing white sheets and shooting the wrong "coon". RScott