Though our nation is a young one, we have a past in which many groups were unjustly treated. The institution of equal rights under the law does not mean that America is without faults. The alteration of a racial slur's definition in a dictionary will not prevent the innuendoes from remaining as a part of our language and culture. Perhaps these groups should focus their attention on why the word is really still in use today. Hiding this problem will not make it go away.
Similar analogies abound.
There is no doubt that if the word were removed from the pages of all dictionaries everywhere, it would still be uttered somewhere. Racial slurs and vulgarities abound in dictionaries. Although they all have different meanings, none seems to be entirely accurate. Merriam-Webster's policy is to print multiple definitions in order of the time in which they originated. The concerned groups demand the words' firm assimilation into the political climate of today, and thus disregard the objective purpose of the dictionary.