OMG !
My wife is Chinese and uses that word a LOT when she is talking to her sister in China on the phone. I have always told her to be careful when speaking Chinese in public just because of that word.
Nega = “that one”
.
About 20 years ago a couple of my boys had a middle-school geography unit on Africa. I reminded them to be careful of their spelling when discussing the river and country of Niger. We had a laugh over that.
I think this was about the time some ignorant racists (or anti-racist, as they would style themselves) made a fuss over someone using the word “niggardly” (which means cheap, miserly) in proper context.