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I can see both sides of the argument here.
For whatever reasons (slavery?), the word "nigger" has exceptionally unpleasant cultural overtones in the United States. This book, which is an American classic, makes extensive use of the word, which I can see might cause issues should one wish to have the book in, say, a school library. Would this be a book that you'd be comfortable in giving a child to read? Especially a black child?
So, you basically have 4 options as I see it:
1. Allow free and uncontrolled access to the original book.
2. Remove the book from all school libraries.
3. Allow only controlled access to the book, in an environment where its cultural context can be explained.
4. Rewrite the book, thus preserving a good story, but removing the context that is culturally unacceptable.
One could argue for and against all these options. I can personally see benefits of a mixture of 3 and 4 for schools: have a "sanitised" version of the book in the library to allow children to read a wonderful story, while preserving the original for English lessons where its cultural context can be properly explained.
Of course all adults should have free and unrestricted access to the original.
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