The chairman of the NAACP says Washington Mayor Anthony Williams acted in a "niggardly" way by accepting the resignation of an aide who offended some people by using that word in a conversation.

"You hate to think you have to censor your language to meet other people's lack of understanding," Julian Bond said Thursday, noting "niggardly" means stingy and has no offensive connotation even though it sounds similar to a slur.

"This whole episode speaks loudly to where we are on issues of race. Both real and imagined slights are catapulted to the front burner."

David Howard stepped down after receiving complaints about his use of the word in a conversation with other city officials.

Williams, who is black, accepted the resignation of Howard, who is white, saying initially that his aide showed poor judgment even though he "didn't say anything that was in itself racist."

The mayor backpedaled a bit Wednesday, the day after Howard resigned. The mayor said an investigation was under way and Howard might return to the staff--in a different job--if he's ultimately judged to have done nothing wrong.

"Seems to me the mayor has been niggardly in his judgment on this issue," Bond said pointedly by phone. In addition to being chairman of the largest civil rights organization, Bond, who is black, teaches at the University of Virginia and is a student of language.