I agree, all of those things are worse.
Seems to me that Jeff was using 'Nigger' in context of whites who we might call, "White trash," meaning not the brightest lights and with a whole bunch of social problems. Trashy folks: white, black, or any other 'group' are a pain to society as a whole.
Now 'trash' isn't location, education, or socioeconomic group, it's being ignorant of a myriad of things and proud of it.