'Huckleberry Finn' pulled from classes after parent complains

The Lansing State Journal ^ | November 3, 2006 | AP

[Stoat]

'Huckleberry Finn' pulled from classes after parent complains

Associated Press

 

TAYLOR - Mark Twain's classic "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" has been pulled from high school classes after a parent of a black student complained that a teacher had students read portions aloud.

There is only one black child in the English class where the book, which contains racial slurs, was read aloud and acted out, The Detroit News reported Thursday.

The book will remain on the shelves at Taylor School District's high schools. The district's curriculum committee will recommend to the school board whether the book should have a future in district classrooms.

"We want to be sensitive to how the children feel," said Lynette Sutton, assistant superintendent for secondary instruction.

The 1880s novel about a white boy's first-person account of his adventures along the Mississippi River with a runaway slave named Jim has long been controversial because of its use of racial slurs and its representations of blacks and women.

[Stoat]

See also the FAR SUPERIOR original article at the Detroit News  (I was blocked from posting it here due to 'copyright complaint')

Taylor schools expel 'Huck Finn' - 11-02-06 - The Detroit News Online

[The Worthless Miracle]

Maybe they can bring in that little racist girl who writes the "I hate Whitey" poetry...

[Nova442]

Long live the book-burning, tag-banning PC crowd *rolls eyes*

[msnimje]

Hello, I am Johnny's mother and I am so stupid I do not understand what this book is about so nobody else should be allowed to read it.

[FlingWingFlyer]

This so-called "parent" needs their ass kicked. This is America! We have a First Amendment. Mark Twain is America! Huck Finn is America! This "parent" is a scumbag.

[DeFault User]

Huckleberry Finn should be recognized as the most important book of the Civil Rights movement.

[wagglebee]

Homosexual Agenda and Moral Absolutes Ping!

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But how to be a homosexual books are encouraged.

[GeorgiaDawg32]

this from a parent who probably thinks the word "niggardly" is a racial slur..

[cripplecreek]

[Abcdefg]

Samuel Clements (Mark Twain) was an abolitionist. Huck referred to the runaway slave Jim as "nigger Jim" in the first of the book. Many people can't get beyond this to the progression of their relationship where Huck sees Jim as a friend and an equal and refers to him as "Jim".

[Hugin]

"The fact that the (word) is used in the novel is disturbing, but it's the job of the teacher to explain why," Berkov said. "The fact that an ugly word appears is no reason at all to ban the book."

What's disturbing is that political correctness is taken to such an extreme the the word "nigger" nowhere appears in this article, even in quotes, when it's appearance in the book is central to the whole controversy. How ridiculous.

[Stoat]

Maybe they can bring in that little racist girl who writes the "I hate Whitey" poetry...

I haven't heard about this (embarrassed)

Can you supply some additional information?

Thank you   :-)

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Well, there's always "Are You There God? It's me, Margaret."

[gidget7]

But they refuse to pull King and King from elementary schools!! Likewise other homosexual stories. This country has lost ALL it's bearings.

[operation clinton cleanup]

"We want to be sensitive to how the children feel,"

But of course we do.. and also be sensitive to adults who refuse to grow up.

[gidget7]

Samuel Clements (Mark Twain) was an abolitionist. Huck referred to the runaway slave Jim as "nigger Jim" in the first of the book. Many people can't get beyond this to the progression of their relationship where Huck sees Jim as a friend and an equal and refers to him as "Jim".


Precisely! It's an excellent learning tool in teaching anti racism!

[Inyo-Mono]

How sad that some folks don't have the intelligence to understand Mark Twain's writings. Huck Finn was the first book ever to portray blacks as equal to whites.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Actually, to anyone with a wit of common sense, the "racist" portions of Huckleberry Finn are (unlike a John Kerry attempt at humor) IRONIC!

Jim always saw and articulated things more clearly than the White folks, he just wasn't taken seriously because of his race. Some White person was always taking credit for his insights and ideas.

The racists words used by characters in Huck Finn are so obviously at variance with the situations depicted that the overall effect is to subtly undermine the pervailing (even in the North and most of Europe) racism of the day.

Please grow up, people.

[Central Scrutiniser]

Yeah, but if it was pulled for teaching evolution, then people would cheer, right?

sigh.....