A Virginia school district has temporarily banned two American novels based of their perpetual use of the N-word. The classic novels in question, To Kill A Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, use the racial slur for a combined total of more than 250 times.
The ban arrives after one mother filed a Request for Reconsideration of Learning Resources, which will bar the books until further review. CBS affiliate WTVR reports how a “review committee consisting of the principal, the library media specialist, the classroom teacher (if involved), a parent and/or student, and the complaint will convene.”
Other parents, whose children also attend Accomack County Public Schools, point towards the election and the rise of white nationalist groups as a no-brainer for the books to be banned. CBS News quotes one mother, who feels that the books’ inclusion of the racial slur is unacceptable: “There’s so much racial slurs and defensive wording in there that you can’t get past that. Right now, we are a nation divided as it is.”
While some parents are on board for the ban and review, others feel this move is unnecessary. Parent R. Kellam told Virginia’s WAVY station that banning the books could lead to a slippery slope, saying “I don’t want to see it happen because if you start with one racial word in a book and have to go on and on and on and pretty soon you’ll be burning books left and right.”
The panel made up of school employees will soon review the parent’s claims about the books, but Superintendent Warren Holland has yet to determine the date of when the recommendation will be made.
(Via CBS WTVR & WAVY 10 – Virginia)