[OtterBooks]

"Nigger" may not have been a slur during that time in the same sense it is now, but it was indeed part of the act of human denigration. That's why it remained in use as a slur. It was more accepted in polite society back then because racism was more accepted in polite society. Twain was a vocal critic of racial injustice who likely never wrote a word in his life where he was not fully aware of its greater meaning. To say he used the word innocently because it was a word of the times is oblivious to who he was. Later in life he was publicly vilified for his criticism of American imperialism. He was also pro-labor union and against animal vivisection (a sentiment that didn't gain popularity for another half-century). Mark Twain was not a man of his times.

If that alone does not speak to the intent of "nigger Jim," it is etched in stone by the fact that the usage of the name evolves by the end of the story (as WT Sharpe points out), with Huck calling him "my friend, Jim" and it wasn't because Twain just felt like typing a different word. Jim is an almost saintly character, and the "nigger" in his name was very intentional irony.

"Editing it is better than children not reading it at all."

No, it is not. The book is good because of its story, but like many great works of literature taught in schools it's important because of what that story conveys in a masterful way, and the aspect in question is no minor conveyance. Remove that and you may as well be feeding children Harry Potter. No doubt they find that a good story as well. There's a reason why Uncle Tom's Cabin, which contains disturbing accounts of racial denigration, is taught in schools, and it's not because it's a "fun read."

Once you accept that it was an act of social commentary, the act of editing it out is brought into new light. Removing the word did not remove racism, since the word was not an act of racism but part of deliberate and purposeful criticism of it. The person who did it was a Mark Twain "scholar," so either he was the most incompetent Twain scholar who ever lived, or he knew precisely what he was doing: silencing the message. That isn't naive censorship; it's something else entirely. "Nigger Jim" is not racist. Removing it was. edit: just imho and so forth.