Oh My Fucking God

Seriously, do we really want to go backward in time?

ACCOMAC, Va. (WAVY) — Two classic American novels have been temporarily pulled from book shelves in Accomack County Public Schools.

Superintendent Warren Holland confirmed to 10 On Your Side that a parent filed a complaint about “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”

Earlier this month, a parent voiced concerns to the school board about racial slurs in both of the novels.

“Right now, we are a nation divided as it is,” the mother is heard saying in an audio recording of the meeting on Nov. 15. She tells the board that her biracial son, a high school student, struggled getting through a page that was riddled with a racial slur.

“So what are we teaching our children? We’re validating that these words are acceptable, and they are not acceptable by any means,” the parent said.

  WAVY

Wrong. (Sorry, I sound like Trump there.)

Read the goddamned books.  There is nothing in either of them that condones or promotes racist language.  They speak the language of their times, and they both show racism as ignorant and harmful.

Per the school’s policy, the request will now go before a committee made up of a principal, librarian, teacher, parent and potentially others. The committee will then make a recommendation to the superintendent.

Let us hope they resist the urge to start banning books again. Perhaps they can make some accommodation for students who are uncomfortable reading literature that has "offensive" language. Give that kid another study hall period. Make a "safe space".  Keep that closed mind if you want. Do they have any problem reading books that include rape and gang language.  And what are they watching on TV?

Okay, so don't go about it with my attitude.  See if you can't gently educate the parents.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Alas

Author Teju Cole was asked what book he would recommend to President Obama:

I suppose at least a little faith in literature’s ability to make us better is what lies behind this question. But I have no such faith. The president has already read many wonderful books from many different cultures. Now we need him to act justly in certain matters: to stop killing people extrajudicially, and to stop deporting people with such enthusiasm. I doubt that more reading will quicken his conscience in these matters.

  NYT

This Could Be Part of the Problem

Or, if you are the US government, this may be the goal.

[January 8, 2009] A long-awaited federal study finds that an estimated 32 million adults in the USA — about one in seven — are saddled with such low literacy skills that it would be tough for them to read anything more challenging than a children's picture book or to understand a medication's side effects listed on a pill bottle.

[...]

Overall, the study finds, the nation hasn't made a dent in its adult-literacy problem: From 1992 to 2003, it shows, the USA added about 23 million adults to its population; in that period, an estimated 3.6 million more joined the ranks of adults with low literacy skills.

How low? It would be a challenge to read this newspaper article or deconstruct a fuel bill.

"They really cannot read … paragraphs (or) sentences that are connected," says Sheida White, a researcher at the U.S. Education Department.

  USA Today

Banned Books Week

"The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read."
-- Mark Twain


This week marks the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week. The American Library Association is "celebrating the freedom to read." Exercise your freedom.  Maybe read something from the list of "banned and challenged classics" or "most frequently challenged books of 2011."  

Can you believe that "To Kill a Mockingbird" is still number 10 on the list in 2011?  No doubt it's up there every year.  It's number 4 on the classics list.  The reason:  "offensive language and racism."  Since I can't think of any other possible choices, I'm assuming the "offensive language" is the word "nigger."  We can't even read the word??  Sadly, people do still even speak it, and pretending they don't, or trying to prevent us from reading that word coming from a character in a book, does absolutely nothing to alter that fact. Never in the history of the world has hiding something removed it. The book exposes racism, which is the only way to begin to change something.  Perhaps that's the real reason people want it banned. 

If you haven't read "To Kill a Mockingbird," even if you've seen the Gregory Peck movie (and while Peck was good, Mary Badham owned that movie), do yourself a favor and read Harper Lee's novel.  It's not just a great story, it's beautifully written. 

I can't understand why we still have a system that allows people an avenue to have books banned.  But then, we still have a system that allows people to be detained indefinitely without charge and tortured.  How enlightened we are.