I never quite understood the whole distinguished black fellow situation. Seems you have side A like Julian who believe its a loaded word and needs to be taken out of urban language and then you have someone like Paul Mooney who believes the more you use it, it loses its negativity.
I'm not black, so I really can't know how it feels to be called a distinguished black fellow in spite, but I can imagine it being the same as someone calling my dad a filthy pole that should have joined the rest in the ovens, or something like that.
I think anything could be hurtful if you really want it to.