Doesn't censorship just help retain the derogatory aura, (for some) of a word which in itself merely comes from the latin word for black?
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I hope you appreciate that the expression "Nigger merely comes from the latin word for black" is as factually true as the expression "Cocksucker merely describes a person as one who performs an act many people find mutually pleasant."
Yet somehow we don't have editors replacing the word "cocksucker" with, say, "sexual performer".
Non-US readers may not fully appreciate the stigma associated with the word "nigger". It has complex usage rules, incomparable to other racially derogatory words such as "goon" or "chink" (I don't think that anyone really uses "injun" anymore).
I think Mark Bauerlein's comment is sport on, to a student in his class who got offended by the word he said:
"Listen, you’re in college now, and that’s going to put pressure on you. In many courses you’ll have to face some awful facts of history, and to handle them well you can’t let them offend you so much."