School Yanks Literary Classic Because It ‘Makes People Uncomfortable’ – By Jon Street (redstate.com) / Oct 14 2017
It’s a literary classic found in just about every junior high and high school classroom across America. But one school district is now pulling “To Kill A Mockingbird” from students’ lesson plans for an absolutely insane reason.
The Biloxi School District in Biloxi, Mississippi, said it made the decision this week to no longer have eighth grade students read the book after the school received some “complaints.”
“There is some language in the book that makes people uncomfortable, Kenny Holloway, vice president of the Biloxi School Board, told the Biloxi Sun Herald.
“We can teach the same lesson with other books,” Holloway added.
One Sun Herald reader described the move as “one of the most disturbing examples of censorship I have ever heard, the newspaper reported. The reader said that “the themes in the story humanize all people regardless of their social status, education level, intellect, and of course, race.”
“It would be difficult to find a time when it was more relevant than in days like these,” they added.
“To Kill A Mockingbird” was published in 1960. A year later, in 1961, the book won a Pulitzer prize and the very next year, in 1962, the story was turned into a Oscar-winning movie.
The book chronicles what life in the South was like for black people in the mid 20th century. The literary classic includes the N-word several times and uses the term “negro” on numerous occasions. The Biloxi School District will still allow the book in the library.
A parody Twitter account for one of the book’s main characters, Atticus Finch, weighed in the school’s decision, tweeting “THAT’S THE POINT OF THE F**KING BOOK.”
Well said, Atticus. Well said.
https://www.redstate.com/jon-street/2017/10/14/425751/
PB/TK – I really hate people. “To Kill A Mockingbird” is an awesome book and kids should read it and if you’re too sensitive the words then you shouldn’t even be reading the funny pages. Maybe I should throw arms in air about “Lord of the Flies” and the treatment of ‘Piggy’ because I grew up an overweight child, but no because I have a spine and understand it’s a freakin’ book!
