Why is the word nigger racist?

I'd argue it is entirely on context. And what exactly is meant by it.

I'd agree it tends to be extremely offensive but that's how it is used. Someone saying "sup nigger" to their friend isn't racist. Ranting about "stupid niggers" probably is.

There's loads of words that are used as slurs that we don't even think about. Like Yankee. That was a slur that we repurposed because when you tell off those stupid Brits by calling yourself Yanks then you can take the power from the insult and stick it to the wankers. We have baseball teams called the Yankees, this proves that Yanks are just as equal to the wanks. If we really want to give blacks full equality it's high time we change the offensive name like "Atlanta Braves" to something that celebrates our diverse history "Atlanta Niggas".