Liberals really just don’t seem to like the freedom of speech or our past. They can’t stand that anyone would write about a time where black people were not treated fairly. They want to cover it up. So it makes sense that in one of the bluest states in our nation, California, a school district would ban books from English curriculums. Burbank Unified School District is banning: Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” Theodore Taylor’s “The Cay,” and Mildred D. Taylor’s “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.”
So what caused these classics to be cut from English curriculums.
“Four parents, three of whom are Black, challenged the classic novels for alleged potential harm to the district’s roughly 400 Black students.”
The parents claimed their kids were bullied after the kids learned racial slurs from the books.
“One parent, identified as Carmenita Helligar, said a white student approached her black daughter and taunted her with the N-word, which the student said he “learned” from reading “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.”
But not all educators agree with these parents.
“However, other teachers, organizations and students have argued that the books’ inclusion in teaching material is essential for supporting a conversation about contemporary racism and framing class discussions about race.
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) sent a letter to BUSD urging the district to allow teaching of the books while the challenges are under review.
“[W]e believe that the books… have a great pedagogical value and should be retained in the curriculum,” read the letter from the NCAC, as cited by the LA Times.
PEN America (an acronym for Poets, Essayists, Novelists) also released a petition calling to reinstate the banned books.
“Each of the books in question deal with difficult subject matter from our country’s complicated and painful history, including systemic racism,” an excerpt from the petition reads. “Blocking engagement with these important books is also avoiding the important role that schools can and should play in providing context for why these books inspire and challenge us still today.”
These books inform students about racism and show a perspective that many don’t experience. It opens the door for discussion about the civil rights movement and how things have drastically changed for the better. It is unfortunate that a few children were bullied due to the racial content, but these books are not intended to encourage racism. They are in fact very much against it. That’s why they are useful tools for an English classroom. So hopefully the school district will see reason and bring the books back into the classrooms. There is a committee deciding whether or not they will allow the books but they have not yet reached a consensus.
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