My husband, an Ivorian, is VERY black. In fact, in the dark streets of our village (no street lamps here) he disappears altogether unless he grins. I've just asked him what he thinks about changing books to remove racist words. He was puzzled, as he doesn't think a printed word can hurt him. Also, he says "The man wrote these words, so why change them today?" This is I think a semantic and linguistic question about the implication and meaning of words changing over time. What was not offensive then may have become so now. But that is not in itself a reason to interfere with text. But if in the street a racist yells the 'n' word at a black person, that is a deliberate attempt to insult and offend. The difference lies in the attitude and intention of the user. Surely people (even young students) are perfectly capable of understanding this?