I prefer to link to an article and at least give people a chance to decide for themselves, so here you go Warb.
http://www.sunherald.com/news/local/counties/jackson-county/article178572326.html
You know, I think people have to realize that people did use the n-word. It happened. Its real. It was not right. But it happened. I agree the word is offensive. I never use it. But it was used and unfortunately racists today still use it. It is simply not realistic to depict racists and not having them use the word. I don’t see the reason why a book like “To Kill a Mockingbird” should be banned just because it depicts racists using that word. Roots also has racists using that word. Should it be banned? It depicts slavery. How would you realistically depict slave masters and overseers referring to slaves without having them use the n-word? The same it true for racists. This is why the word became so offensive, because it was how the master, overseer, and racist referred to black people. I suppose next we will ban all movies and books about WWII if they have American soldiers referring to the Japanese as j__s.
Up until recently, at least where I grew up, Japs and Krauts were the respective words older people used to describe Japanese and Germans, and that wasn’t too long ago. Also, the book wasn’t banned, just deleted from the curriculum. Context in these books is important too. The fact that certain words appear in a book or film created at any time doesn’t have any bearing on the quality or message of the book.