NRHEG Star Eagle

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Newspaper of Record for Waseca County, MN
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It’s been a long time, but I do recall writing about censorship years ago. However, it’s the flame that never seems to get fully blown out, and here we go again with people removing material to “protect” children.

This time it’s in Duluth, Minnesota. The schools there have decided to take To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn out of the high school curriculum. According to reports, there were no complaints about the classic novels, but the district felt they created an uncomfortable atmosphere in classrooms where they were taught.

The curriculum director in Duluth has said they can find other, equally good novels that teach the same lessons and standards and don’t “require students to feel humiliated or margianalised by the use of racial slurs.” Both novels have the n-word in them, with Mark Twain’s novel using it frequently in a story about a slave trying to find freedom in the 1840s.

Naturally, both sides of this battle have come out in force, with the NAACP supporting the move to take away hurtful language. Stephen Witherspoon said, “There are a lot more authors with better literature that can do the same thing that does not degrade our people.”

However, much like the National Coalition Against Censorship, I am “deeply disturbed.” The NCAC said it better than I ever could: “(While it is) understandable that a novel that repeatedly used a highly-offensive racial slur would generate discomfort among parents and students, the problems of living in a society where racial tensions persist will not be resolved by banishing literary classics from the classroom.”

Exactly. Anybody who knows me well understands that I place To Kill a Mockingbird at the top of the literary heap. Huck Finn is not far behind. These are books that everyone should read, not just for the literary value, but to better understand the way people thought and acted in those time periods. And, unfortunately, how some people still think and act today.

These two novels are largely considered anti-racist works. How do you address an issue like racism without mentioning the language used to degrade people? Is it overdone in Huck Finn? Not if you understand how slaves were viewed at the time. Is it uncomfortable to read words like that? It should be. We should be ashamed of how we’ve treated people in this country and how some people are still treated to this day. Sometimes you need a slap in the face to get your attention.

I’ve taught The Adventures of Tom Sawyer every year of my career. That novel also uses the n-word, though it doesn’t appear very often. I read this book out loud every year. It provides a great opportunity to have valuable discussions with my students on why that word is NOT okay to use, ever. Was it used in that time period? Yes, it was. My students should see how it was used and the effects of its use in efforts to keep the slaves down.

We don’t have a large minority population in our school, but even when I have students of color, there doesn’t seem to be any level of discomfort when we talk about this. Students get their eyes opened to understanding that we’re all the same, no matter the color of our skin. At the same time, they get to read a classic piece of literature, something that is required under our education standards. Are there other classic works we could read? Naturally, though none that also provide the life lessons Tom Sawyer does.

Discomfort is part of life. If we always work to make sure our kids aren’t bothered by things around them, we will have failed them. We need to expose them to challenges and difficult situations and help guide them through the decision-making process. Once they have left the nest and face those situations on their own, they will be better equipped to deal with them.

But if we hide the unfortunate truths of our world from our children, they will face stark reality at some point without the tools to handle it. The helicoptor parents who hover around their children and wrap them in bubble wrap should realize they are doing more harm than good. Kids need to fall down and scrape their knees, both literally and metaphorically.

Our country is still a racist country. We have laws in place to help support equality, and we’ve come a long way since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. helped lead the way to civil rights, but we still have a long way to go. We’ve all heard the phrase, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” If we don’t show the uncomfortable situations linked to slavery and the treatment of blacks in the South in the 20th century, how can we learn history?

Huck Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird do a magnificent job of highlighting the horrors that were perpetrated on minorities. These books show things from children’s point of view, which should really open our eyes. The innocence of youth is paramount to understanding that when we travel down a racist path, we set a terrible example for our young people. Racism will not disappear in our country until all adults help show children that it is wrong.

I know what won’t disappear – those books. Nothing’s guaranteed to make students want to read a book like telling them they don’t get to read a book. I would guess the wait list at local libraries will be long for two of the best novels ever penned. But wouldn’t it be better for kids to read these “uncomfortable” works together and with guidance?

 

Word of the Week: This week’s word is queme, which means agreeable and suitable, as in, “The school made the bad decision of only allowing queme books for students, which quickly caused disinterest in reading.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies! 

 

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