Yes, To Kill A Mockingbird Has Racist Language...But Isn't That The Point?

To Kill A Mockingbird. A classroom classic. I'm sure there isn't a public student alive who hasn't had to read this novel since it's publication in 1960. It won a Pulitzer Prize, the Brotherhood award at the National Conference of Christian and Jews, Paperback of the Year award from Bestsellers magazine, along with the author Harper Lee being inducted into halls of fame. Truly, a magnificent piece of literature. Banned?

Recently an article popped up on my Facebook feed showing me that one select mother threw a big stinking fit about the classic novel holding "racist language".  First, I let it bug me. A long time. Then I started to do my own research on why this happened and where. I was not disappointed when I found that this mother within Virginia also had The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain banned from the school. The article from the L.A. Times states that the mother believed the use of the "N-word" made the slur sound acceptable to the young students leading to instill more racism than it should. 

I will not lie. When I read this book in middle school, the use of the N-word made me very uncomfortable because I knew it was wrong. I already knew that word was inappropriate. Even back when the book was set, the N-word was an insult. But that's what made the novel real. It wasn't an imagined idea of what would have happened. There is no shortage of racial slurs thrown in the American South, especially during that time period. Why leave out the words that make the novel's message sink so much farther down in a child's mind? 

The message To Kill A Mockingbird holds is a significant one. I'd even dare to say that it is a necessary one to teach to young children coming on the cusp of adulthood. Censoring such novels, because of the language, removes the worthwhile point of education. To teach, to learn, to grow, to become better.

"If we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it." -George Santayana

When I was in class, and we read the ending of the novel together, it wasn't as if there were students happy about the ending. They didn't rejoice. The bullies didn't start cheering because the bad guys won and the innocent man was shot. To Kill A Mockingbird sank in a lessen about life. That when good people do not stand up for what they know is right, even if others don't, it makes them a bad guy. Every single one of my classmates was saddened by the ending. The novel had brought us through so much eye-opening truths about things that we were sad to see the all was not right in the end. Justice wasn't served. Wrongs were not made right. People weren't better in the end, either.

It shows a young child, about to enter a dog eat dog world, that people can go with the flow of horrible things because it is easier that way. Children need to see the consequences of such actions. To Kill A Mockingbird shows just that. Life without reason or morals. Just purely ruled by what the stronger think, so the meek suffer tenfold.  

It should stay in school, despite the language. 

As of recent reports, many protests have taken place since the banning of the book. The opposition of the ban states that censorship of novels is more damaging to the students than the language that they hear. No word has been said on whether the ban will be removed or not. One can only hope that they students education is thought of first.