Banned: Huck Finn and To Kill A Mockingbird

[Teppodama]

In a move to protect students from “racial slurs,” a Virginia school district has banned the reading of two classics of American literature: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird.

The Accomack County Public Schools has temporarily removed books from the curriculum, after a mother said her high school-age son was troubled by the racial slurs they contain and asked for the books to be removed from school reading lists.

Whether to reinstate the books will be made pending a decision by the district's superintendent after hearing testimony from a selected committee.

The mother, whose son is biracial, said her son was required to read Huckleberry Finn for a high school assignment, but could not get past a certain page in the story on which the N-word appeared seven times.

“I keep hearing, ‘This is a classic, This is a classic.’ … I understand this is a literature classic. But at some point, I feel that children will not—or do not—truly get the classic part, the literature part, which I’m not disputing,” she argued at a school board meeting. “This is great literature. But there (are so many) racial slurs in there and offensive wording that you can’t get past that.”

A racial slur reportedly appears 219 times in Huckleberry Finn and 48 times in To Kill a Mockingbird.

“So what are we teaching our children?” the mother asked. “We’re validating that these words are acceptable, and they are not acceptable by (any) means,” she said, while noting psychological effects that language has on children.

“There is other literature they can use,” she argued.

The mother proposed assembling a committee of parents and teachers of different ethnic backgrounds to compile a list of books that would be “inclusive” for all students

Wonder if her kid get to listen to current Rap and Hip-Hop albums?

 

[Rod1]

 

[Happiness]

Silly, we can't ban history because we don't like it. Books like these are invaluable teaching opportunities.

Mum, history upsets me, make it go away!

 

[uncommon]

Im for local educationn, but at what point do you say your taxes have more of a say so in material choices than the admins

 

[nac386]

The "Ban Huck Finn" debate started in the 1950's.

Instead of banning books, it is obviously a lot more useful to use them as a teaching tool. Language changes over time, for various reasons, and it's something that students should learn about in school.

 

[Long Dark Blues]

Pathetic.

 

[Happiness]

The "Ban Huck Finn" debate started in the 1950's.

Ban Enid Blyton was much more fun.

 

[Pale Man In Black]

I certainly hope that regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum, everybody is against censorship.

 

[Deleted member 159002]

Lol I can't remember if it was that book or something else, but I remember my high school English teacher making us take turns reading outloud in class. When my friend read the dialogue of a black character, he would talk like Tommy in O Brother Where Art Thou. The teacher yelled at him lol.

 

[Happiness]

I certainly hope that regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum, everybody is against censorship.

Indeed.

 

[ILLogic]

She opposes appropriate historical context for the sake of PC. Instead, explain to your little cupcake that Huck Finn and the overt usage of the "n" word sheds light on how commonplace racism was, the hardships that blacks endured, and how fuckin lucky he is to not have been born in those times.

P.S. Fuck her, and Twain was a GOAT.

 

[Kingz]

Ahh look who took over the book barbecue. Liberals.

 

[Thunderflash500]

Liberals covering up historical racism and basically book burning. Cute.

 

[RetiredSlave]

Screw banning them. Fire is the only way to go.

 

[Fawlty]

How many times does this exact same stupid thing have to play out? It's been going on since my parents were kids ffs.

 

[Unsurprised Diaz]

I went to buy fish and chips and was shocked to learn they had banned the Vinigger

 

[TheComebackKid]

I'm as critical of SJWs as anyone but I don't have a problem with this. I don't see the reason to force offensive literature onto children and teenagers. There is no specific benefit to reading these stories so I don't see the harm it switching in some other less-racist classic literature.

For those of you objecting this I would love to hear why these specific books are uniquely beneficial. And if they are not uniquely beneficial then what is the harm with not shoving racial slurs into the minds and psyches of young people and choosing some different books.

 

[Deleted member 159002]

Hillary had a commercial that was pretty much that.

 

[BKMMAFAN]

Ridiculous that they were pulled, even temporarily. However, it looks like the books are pulled pending the outcome of a decision by the superintendent. Hopefully he/she has half a brain and allows them to be used in school curricula.

 

[Teppodama]

We can have racial slurs in popular music, but we can't have it in literature attempting to depict time periods in our national history where it was rampant and the literature itself attempts to use it to highlight the casual and insidious evil infecting large swaths of the population of that time.