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To Kill a Mockingbird

PC police now working to ban literature they don’t like … ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ on censorship list

Political correctness will be the end of the great American society that we have all come to know and love. By appeasing those who demand that we completely change our way of life, we ensure that it is only a matter of time before all of our freedoms are systematically stolen.

This is why what recently happened in Virginia is so terrifying for the future. It has been reported that the Accomack County Public Schools have banned To Kill a Mockingbird from reading lists due to the fact that there are racial slurs used by characters in the novel. Yes, now even one of the greatest pieces of literature in history is under attack by the Regressive Left.

What is most frustrating about this story isn’t even the overt political correctness; it’s that those protesting To Kill a Mockingbird obviously missed the entire point of the novel. It is about as anti-racist as stories get. In fact, the entire point of the book is that racism and prejudices can destroy the lives of innocent people. Unfortunately, the Regressive Left have never been the brightest bunch and missed this very obvious point.

Adrienne Ross of Breitbart reports, “Harper Lee uses the N-word in its historical context. Students understand that. Do we expect the people in Alabama in the thirties to speak in glowing terms of this man, under these circumstances? Would we bother reading if reality were sacrificed for the sake of feel-good fiction? No, we actually feel good when we read a story that is historically accurate, as ugly as it may be, and we can learn from that hi(s)tory.”

Of course, there is always the chance that those complaining about children being assigned to read the book are completely aware that it is not even slightly racist and merely want to cause a fuss in order to fill their deep-seated need to fell as though they matter. Nothing is off limits for these people. Nothing is too sacred to attack and try to ban. They have gotten away with this for so long that they are incredibly confident that they will be able to get everything they want.

It’s time for the rest of us to stand up and call these people out for their awfulness. We have to defend art and knowledge against those who want to destroy them. For the future of our country, we cannot give up on this war.

Sources:

Breitbart.com

TheGuardian.com

LATimes.com

censorship

Widely used educational novels temporarily banned in VA schools, parents concerned for use of ‘racial slurs’

Accomac is a cozy little community situated on  Virginia’s Eastern Shore, a 70 mile stretch of land tucked between the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay. The city of Accomac is home to the Accomack County Public Schools headquarters, servicing over 5,000 children in 11 different facilities. There is currently a situation occuring, where if one parent in Accomac has their way, none of those students will be allowed to read, or even discuss two well known classic novels by award winning American authors.

As reported by Kens5.com, a formal compliant has been filed to stop the use of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” because there are 219 racial slurs embedded in Mark Twain’s classic and 49 found on the pages of Harper Lee’s chronicle. According to The Telegraph, it was “Marie Rothstein-Williams, the mother of a mixed race child,” who followed the school’s procedures in making a formal complaint. Rothstein-Williams believes that hearing these words validates their acceptability and children cannot be taught to think that these words are ok. (Out of the 5,000 students in the school system, 37% are of African American descent.) It appears Ms. Rothstein-Williams doesn’t want the students to have a learning experience where the children can hear these classic books and debate these very issues amongst themselves.

Accomack County Public Schools is making a formal inquiry into the matter by forming a committee to review the material.  The books are suspended from use until the principal, library media specialist, parent and teacher(s) make the final recommendations.

This isn’t the first time Mark Twain or Harper Lee have found their literary compositions on a banned list. Virginia University’s Library points out that since 1885, when “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was first released, “it was condemned as racist” and immediately “banished” from the Concord Public Library. Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” currently holds the number four position on a list called Banned & Challenged Classics, put together by the American Library Association (ALA) who work to defend the First Amendment and protect your right to read whatever you want to read.

ALA stresses that a book challenge – like the case at the Accomack County Public Schools – is not a book ban. But, when it comes to censorship, they urge us to remember the words of Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas:

“Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us. ”

 

Source:

Virginia.org

Accomack.k12.va.us

Kens5.com

Telegraph.co.uk

Ala.org

Ala.org