Well we have officially made it into 2017. Many of us have made the usual New Year Revolutions that, if we are lucky, we are still attempting to do. The wishes and prayers for a better year have come to pass and we have all ate a few collards so we will have some extra cash in our hands. But my question is are we really trying to make the world we live in a better place?
In the last bit of 2016 a book, that is among one of my favorites, was pulled off the shelves after a parent complaint. While I can agree that today the type of wording used is not respectful or encouraged, I can't agree that it should be banned from a school.
Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" was first published in July of 1960 but it takes place in 1936 in the deep south. Life in the deep south during this era was full of racial inequality. When counted the racial slurs can be found 48 times. The term that is mainly detected as the slur is the word "nigger".
Since 1977 the book has been challenged for its language, content, and racism. It is understandable that this bothers people. I myself am not fond of the 'n' word, I was raised to see that word as disrespectful but when it came to literature I understood that it was what people used at the time. It was only used in the sense of assuring that the usage of all language matched with the era. A writing technique that helps transport the reader beyond the page and into the story itself.
I disagree with some who believe that using books like "To Kill a Mockingbird", "Huckleberry Finn", and many others will teach children that using racial slurs are acceptable. This logic does not make sense to me. It is not like we read these books in elementary school where we are easily influenced, most people aren't reading these until their 8th grade year or when they are in high school.
If you don't want your child to read a certain book that is your right but does that mean that my niece, my nephew, my cousin, my child shouldn't read it? Should you punish every young mind because you disagree with a book that you read before when you were their age? Is it fair to assume that when a child reads a book they will automatically become ignorant and use all 'bad' words and actions in their daily life?
In the great words of Rev. Shaw Moore from the 1984 Footloose film, "When did you all decide to sit in judgment? We have a perfect right to determine what our children...When you've burned all these, what are you gonna do then?"
