Well, if we want to make this a full-on analogy, they’d be the accusers, not the angry mob.
Either way, as a white person, I don’t think I’ve got the standing to weigh in on the appropriateness of a black man using a term he (and Sen. Mamie Locke, who I’d assume is a woman) seems to feel fits the situation. Ain’t my place to stick my nose in it.