It probably was, but you need to understand that you are a white nationalist if you say the word nigger. We're Nazis if we have ever said it. It is a word with magical powers.
Oh yes, I get it, and he probably gets it too. It was pointed at the culture of it
In Norway it's less sensitive, but sensitivity regarding it is being imported through American TV
When I was little, it was okay to use the word "svart", as in "black", "a black person", but that is much more sensitive allready, and we never had black slaves or any such drama here. We have black bus-drivers and newspaper-boys.
At the same time, the few black people I've talked to don't mind the word "black", since they are - in their own words - quite black.