Exactly the point I was trying to get across. Thank you for being more eloquent than me.I agree. People have said terrible things about me in games. So terrible that I have already forgotten them. I try not to let it get to me. Sometimes I fail and it does but I'm only human. At the end of the day none of these words had any lasting effect on me. None of these things people said to me ever caused me to report them because none of them broke any of the rules. As long as people stick to utilizing the rules as a foundation for their reports I see no problem.
Frankly I found the comment calling someone a "thieving African" funny. So too would I have been amused by someone being called a "thieving Belgian" , "pilfering Pakistani", "larcenous Londoner", or "sticky-fingered San Franciscan". I also agree that immediately defaulting to the thought of racism upon seeing "thieving African" is prejudicial. It makes no statement about the race of the person, only that they are a thief. However, as you said, he was banned for other words, and not that statement itself so this is a moot point. Perhaps if he called someone a "parsimonious Judean" it would be a more appropriate reason to issue a ban.
I am a Slavic Macedonian with a Greek last name, give me your worst. Chances are I've heard it already.