And I would say that you're missing the context of the group dynamic. Often, whites will say, "black people use this term or that term all of the time." That doesn't make it right for whites to use those phrases. Whites do the same, and it doesn't make it okay for blacks to use their terminology. Get a group of Italian, Polish, British--you name it-- men together, and if you can (as you stated, you inadvertently heard the term used), listen to how they "bust each other's balls" by referencing terms that if you or I used in referring to them, would result in our having to pick our teeth up from the floor (after they knocked them out)! What you "overhear" from a crowd is not the way most people talk to OTHERS outside of their group, in public. Another example, when you heard the guys in the food court (among themselves, not for public consumption) refer to women as "ho's," it may not have been disparagingly (as you pointed out), and if someone from that group happened to have an aunt, sister, cousin, etc., among the group of women being discussed, that would have immediately "checked" the guy using the term (whoa...that's my sister you're talking about, and don't refer to her as a ho!), and the guy(s) using the term would have responded with, "sorry bro, didn't know that was your sis! You know I wasn't dissin' your sister!"
To find it "amusing" that I pointed out the difference in a white man calling a black woman a "ho," just because he felt like it, misses the point I was making. Among his friends, he probably uses that term and other terms even more vulgar when referring to black women AND black men. To do it on a public forum, expect to be "checked." The obvious response would be, "what about the black dudes on here referring to white women as "ho's and bitches?" This is a site where many of the white women have openly said, "it's okay, I want to be called that, etc." Not for you? Then check the brother who refers to you in that terminology. However, the number of black women on this site is probably equal to a tick above zero (.001%), so I took it upon myself to check the guy for them--knowing that most black woman would check a black man for referring to them as a "ho," and would certainly check a white dude that has almost zero in common with her, for calling her a "ho." I'm not angry and I'm not upset, but I don't find it "amusing," either.