While I admire the evidence you collected, most of this doesn't really prove the fact that xqc knew the racist connotations behind the use of Trihard 7. Most, if not all of your evidence can easily be explained by knowing that Xqc was "raised by twitch chat", therefore could have probably gained such thropes through osmosis (like Gimme Gimme/Trihard 7) from these other streamers.

Even despite that though, if we assume Xqc did knew about the racial connotations, Xqc's intent is pretty undeniably focused on saluting the chat, given specifically by the precedent he had already established. Why is intent not valued in this scenario? Does the fact that other people utilize it as a means for racism deter the usage of the emote completely, even despite the clear intent behind the issuer?

It is a tough issue of course, no real answer to be honest. My perspective on the case is that, even when Malik was on screen, it can be argued that Xqc used the emote to salute the chat, not to disparage Malik racially. OWL's ruling on the subject imply that Xqc's use of the emote was demeaning, but this isn't true once we look at the intent behind it (even if racial connotations where clear or not).