To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my all time favorite books. I had to read it in my high school English class and while everyone else was hating it I was completely hooked. It really depicts what was going on at the time and is a classic that is still able to be understood. It is fun to read and it takes you on an adventure throughout the pages.
Everyone should read this book and it should be included in curriculum at schools, but Virginia's Accomack County Public Schools think differently.
A parent at these schools recently complained about this book and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn having racial slurs. The books have been pulled until they can be reviewed and a decision can be made about them.
To me this is insane. Of course there are words in those books that are not acceptable for today, but they were at that time in history. As much as we try to we cannot change or erase history. One person in the video said that once these are pulled it is a slippery slope for everything else to be pulled. If these books are taken out because of one parent's opinion what does that open us up to in the future?
Specifically regarding To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus in the story fought for the African Americans who were being treated wrongly in the story. He fought for them and by the end it hints that there will be more respect for those people. Atticus taught his children a very important lesson about being fair to everyone and not treating them differently because of the color of their skin. Maybe if the parent who complained realized this is what the story was actually about they would have a very different view on this book. To me it shows a start to racial equality in history.
A quote for To Kill a Mockingbird that really goes with this discussion is, “People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.”
People only see racial slurs in this book rather than looking at the theme of the story. Harper Lee created a character who cared. Atticus showed Scout and Jem that you must do what is right even if people do not agree.
I believe that this book should not be taken out of the curriculum because it does teach a valuable lesson. Do not judge a book by the history it accurately portrays, but rather the overall lesson it teaches.
So, to Accomack County Public Schools, you are completely crazy if you take these books out. You are depriving students from learning about how far we have come. You are stealing a classic story from them. Most importantly you are depriving them of realizing the real theme of the story which is that no one should be treated differently because of the color of their skin.
