So, I just saw yet another article about a school district pulling “To Kill A Mockingbird” from their curriculum. Why? Because it makes people uncomfortable. Well, boo freaking hoo. THAT HAPPENS TO BE THE POINT OF THE BOOK! The events in the story are supposed to make you think. There’s language that is inappropriate. There are characters that are racist and do and say some horrible things. But, that is not the focus of the book.
According to a 2016 article in the Huffington Post when a Virginia school district, a mother claimed that the 48 times racial slurs appear in the book make it acceptable. Obviously, this woman did not read the whole book because Atticus teaches his children that those words are NOT acceptable. He strives to defend Tom Robinson despite almost the entire town being against him. And, depicting racial bigotry so prominent in our nation’s past and in present day, is not the same as acceptance of it! That’s like the argument that the body positivity movement is the same as not caring about health. Books with these scenarios are supposed to make us think. Maybe consider how we react to these events in our world today. Do we let it happen? Or do we fight for human decency?
In 2010, a Virginia mother wanted “The Diary of Anne Frank” pulled because she writes about getting her period for the first time, calling it “sexually explicit.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME? One of the most enduring documentations of the Holocaust and that’s what you focus on? Never mind that it’s the tragic story of one of the most beautiful voices in the world being silenced too soon because of her faith. Never mind that she talks about still having hope in humanity despite all the tragedy surrounding her. No, a 13 year old girl writes in her diary about something completely natural for every girl growing into womanhood and it’s explicit and inappropriate.
The Washington Post article I saw also sites how Anne complains about her mother. Um, I think every teenager, boy or girl, complains about their parents in some form. If not in a diary, then to their friends. I think we all remember our teenage years. And, if you’re not there yet, get ready. Our bodies are changing. Our emotions are all over the board. The slightest thing can set you off. Take that and add the fact that you’re forced to live in a tiny space in hiding for an undetermined amount of time, afraid every day that you’re going to be dragged off and killed.
I don’t even want to think about the crazies who think the Holocaust was made up and probably think the diary is a complete work of propaganda fiction. I didn’t find any info in my research but that doesn’t mean they’re not out there.
I think, before parents get butthurt about the little details of a book their child has to read, maybe sit down with them. Read the book together. Talk about the things you have issue with AFTER YOU ARE DONE READING because you may find that it’s not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of what the story is trying to tell.
I was going to look up more examples but these two that I found were already making me so irritated it was amazing I was able to keep my thoughts coherent while writing. Let me know what you think? What other books have been pulled from schools that you think hold important lessons for our children. (And our adults because it’s obvious we need to go back to school for a lot of things, like common sense and how not to be so overly critical and sensitive because you disagree with something. A skill frighteningly lacking.)