Oh hell, I'll weigh in, too

I love Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn; it's a masterpiece written by a national treasure. To my way of thinking, editing out the word ni**er is not a good idea. Words possess power, even the unsavory ones. Future readers must understand/experience the South as it was, its leisurely lifestyle attained and supported through despicable means: slavery. That abhorrent word, when leveled at Jim either as a colloquial, demeaning moniker or hurled as the insult of all insults, is devastating. Once removed, the reader is robbed of its acid-like sting. The politically-correct censors might as well go ahead and remove the mighty Mississippi River while they're at it.