Disclaimer: I am not trolling, I am an autistic person who doesn’t understand so many social nuances. Also I am from New Hampshire (97% white), so I just don’t have any close African-American friends that I am willing to risk asking such a loaded question.
You build up knowledge over time by paying attention to how the culture that it is tied to responds, since most racist stuff doesn't make logical sense.
For an example of it being complicated, the Florida Seminoles college football team is fine because the school has coordinated with the tribe. I don't know of any other professional or college sports team that does so, and any that don't are exploiting Native American culture and most likely using racist stereotypes as part of their team 'spirit'.
I'm a white Christian man in Texas. I know I'm privileged and that that privilege often comes with ignorance, so I used to be really nervous about offending people inadvertently.
But I eventually learned to just ask if I wasn't sure.
It did help that one of my best friends in college was a black lesbian who transitioned Jr year. I joked with him that he was my token "X" friend.
Scottish/Irish brought the method over, and when slaves made it, they used African flavoring techniques. Which also caught on with hillbillies.
That led to hillbillies and slaves being the ones that popularized it.
And they were the two most looked down on ethnic groups in America for a long time. Especially because they were eating it because it was cheap. The lard and frying was to increase the calorie count, because there wasn't much to go around. Same with the heat, it made you eat the (relatively cheap, but still expensive) part slowly.
The big difference is authentic fried chicken, and instead being handed a watered down version of it.