Heritage Erasure In The Schools

Heritage Erasure In the Schools? Back when Mark Twain wrote “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” he probably had no idea that down the road some seventeen-year-old black student with a name reminiscent of something one finds among Nation of Islam members, would get his literary classic removed from an English Literature course.

Welcome to the world of book banning al a liberal left and Islam.

Ibrahim Mohamed, a student in the Birdville, ISD in Texas, was the only black student in a class discussion about “hurtful statements and how context affects a word’s meaning.” As part of the class, the teacher wrote several words on the blackboard. Among the words was the word “nigger.”

Apparently Ibraham felt that he, as a student, should direct the class and insisted that the teacher remove “nigger” from the blackboard and replace it with “the N-word.” The teacher refused and continued to use the word throughout the discussion. According to Ibrahim, when he complained again, the teacher said “hurts, doesn’t it?”

I am left wondering why Ibrahim and the many blacks who opposed the book don’t get their knickers in a knot over the use of the term “nigger” in every-day black lingo, including poetry by blacks and rap music?

Oh, you say? What’s that? It’s about CONTEXT?

Wasn’t that the point of the class to begin with? Funny how that genuinely good goal managed to get lost in the arms of political correctness.

The end result of the situation is that “instructors will receive cultural sensitivity training” (aka mind-bending indoctrination forced upon those who want to keep their jobs); Ibrahim will never have to return to that school, let alone, the class; oh yeah, and the book has been banned from the studies course.

What? You say? Book banning?

Where’s the ACLU? Where are the First Amendment rights people?

Too bad the school district folded. Had they bothered to contact Jocelyn Chadwick, Graduate School of Education professor, and supporter of keeping Huckleberry Finn around, they would’ve found out that there’s actually a good reason NOT to ban the book.

Back in 2000, Ms. Chadwick was asked to mediate a discussion about whether or not the book should be taught in schools in Enid, Oklahoma. The book was retained as long as Ms. Chadwick agreed to come instruct teachers on the proper method for teaching the book to high school students.

As one of the foremost scholars on Twain’s literature, Ms Chadwick sees the book as an important work by a prominent American author. A book deserving of respect if no other reason than that. Ms. Chadwick recommends that instructors not try and use the book to solve social issues, rather, to defend the “text” of the book.

NIGGER JIM V. INJUN JOE. Ron Price, a democrat from Dallas and a school district trustee, put it this way:

“We are here today to say we will not tolerate the n-word being used by any educators anywhere in any school district throughout our region or the state of Texas. It's critical that we examine all of our textbooks to ensure that the language is proper and that the language is not being used to abuse any child in any public school.”

Well, gee, can we get Tom Sawyer out of the school districts while we’re at it, please? Or doesn’t anyone care about the “Injuns” aka “Native Americans?” Oh wait! Injun Joe doesn’t count. He’s half-white, which means his evilness is expected, even if his “injun” half is really the side being blamed for his nastiness in the book.

Can’t I be racially sensitive, too? Or is that only reserved for “non-crackers?”

I find it interesting that Native Americans (yes, I will give non-whiners respect) haven’t armed up in droves to get Tom Sawyer removed. Think about it for a moment: not only is the word “injun” the incorrect spelling (it’s Indian Joe for those of you in Birdville) the character is downright evil! Yet neither full Native Americans nor those with mixed race are crying for it’s removal from school district classes.

Why not?

Because we LEARN from historic literature. That’s why not.

One of the callers to WFAA news remarked: “those who forget the past are condemned to

repeat it.” I suspect this never crossed the minds of those dealing with the Birdville situation.

But I had this thought: if you remove a book like this, and it’s contents are forgotten, aren’t you enabling the repetition of it in the future?

Now there’s a mind-bender for ya! Which is why here, in America, we still allow the Aryan Nation, KKK, the American Nazi Party, and other such buffoons to have a platform: they’re living, breathing “don’t let this happen to you” posters.

On the other hand, perhaps we should stop hiding the anti-white groups as well. Notice how quietly the anti-Caucasian sentiments of members of the Nation of Islam are side-stepped by the media. Note how suddenly silent the nefarious history of the Black Panthers has faded into oblivion.

And any attempt to rake up that past will likely be met with stark resistance. The banning of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been in the works for a long time. Back in 1995 a parent coalition met to determine the fate of the book where eleven high schools in the San Jose area were concerned.

Someone counted: the “N” word appears 200 times in the book.

Did they actually read the book though? This is, for me, the more important question. Supporters contended that the book was a living example of racism in American history and as such, had it’s place in the classroom.

What was the opposing parents coalition concerned about?

“The African-American Parent Coalition argues that their children already are bombarded with racial slurs that erode their self-esteem and affect their performance in school.” Are self-esteems’ so frail among African-Americans that learning a bit of THEIR OWN HISTORY will harm them?

Then may we please take all lessons about slavery out of the text books? After all, learning that your ancestors were once slaves could mess with a kid’s head, right?

And for God’s sake, stop allowing them to check out ROOTS in the library, or THE COLOR PURPLE.

Or is it only because a white guy with a scraggly beard and wry humor wrote the classic novel that there’s an objection? TWAIN IN THE CROSSHAIRS. The book had been controversial since it was first published. Some people just didn’t “get it” when it came to Twain’s satirical approach to the society of his day.

In a New York Times article dated April 16, 1982, administrator John Wallace of the Mark Twain Intermediate School in Fairfax, Va., described the book as “white trash” and added that anyone who taught the book was a “racist” as was the man who wrote it. Now there’s an irony for ya!

But was Mark Twain truly racist? Perhaps when teaching the book, there should be some understanding of the author.

Mark Twain, aka Samuel Clemens, grew up in Missouri in the 1800’s. His father, a judge, had also been a slave trader and his uncle owned some twenty slaves. Clemens had witnessed the abuse of slaves throughout his own childhood, including seeing one murdered by having a rock thrown at him merely for “acting oddly.”

What did Twain have to say about “niggers” and slavery?

From a 1853 letter: "I reckon I had better black my face, for in these Eastern states, niggers are considerably better than white people."

In 1904 notebook: "The skin of every human being contains a slave."

In A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court: "The blunting effects of slavery upon the slaveholder's moral perceptions are known and conceded the world over; and a privileged class, an aristocracy, is but a band of slaveholders under another name." In The Lowest Animal: "Man is the only Slave. And he is the only animal who enslaves. He has always been a slave in one form or another, and has always held other slaves in bondage under him in one way or another…”

Twain was painfully aware of the prejudices of his day and the horrific nature of human slavery. More importantly, he seemed to have looked past the color to the character and ability of the person.

A letter, dated from January 12, 1851, written to then, General James Garfield upon his election to the office of President of the United States, contains what could reflect Clemen’s actual view of blacks as individual people. In the letter, which had been held by scholars until placed in a special collections at the University of Virginia in 1997, Clemens petitions Garfield to retain Frederick Douglass, the

renown former slave turned abolitionist and writer, in his position as Marshall of the District of Columbia:

"I offer this petition with peculiar pleasure and strong desire, because I so honor this man's high and blemishless character and so admire his brave, long crusade for the liberties and elevation of his race. He is a personal friend of mine, but that is nothing to the point -- his history would move me to say these things without that and feel them too."

Far from being an anti-black racist, Twain’s life experiences led him to become a controversial figure who addressed the inequities of his day in a creative, often satirical manner. Sadly, in our world of political correctness, men like Samuel Clemens are being mistaken for monsters, rather than movers and shakers.

The fact that Clemens depicts Nigger Jim as the racists of his day- the GENUINE racistsprobably saw most blacks, is to his credit. This doesn’t make Twain a racist, rather, it exposes racism. For some reason, those with the more delicate self-esteems cannot comprehend this classic literary approach to difficult social ills.

CONCLUSION. Should books be banned? I believe there are some books which should not receive instant access. The Story of O isn’t appropriate for minors. But I see nothing wrong with adults (over 21) reading it, if they’re into that kind of stuff. I believe Lolita shouldn’t be available to minors nor to pedophiles. And I think the Anarchist’s Cookbook needs to be very carefully monitored, however, you can read it online so…

But these are extremes. I am a libertarian when it comes to books. By book I don’t mean Playboy and Penthouse hardcover (no pun intended) editions. I mean BOOKS. You knowthose things that are all words with few, if any, illustrations.

I cannot abide book banning/burning/ destruction with the only exception being if you

actually OWN the book and decide it’s not for you. But to pull things from schools, off of library shelves, etc., because the book might “offend” someone?

No. I won’t go there.

Where children are concerned, in particular minors, I believe we have to simply use common sense. It truly isn’t appropriate for first graders to “learn” about Heather’s Two Mommies. Just as it isn’t appropriate to have them reading copies of Jane’s Military Vehicles and Logistics. Some things simply are beyond the scope and maturity (not to mention necessary interests) of the younger among us.

On the other hand, by High School, our self-esteems and egos should not be so fragile, and our minds so mushy, as to suddenly become shocked by our collective, national past. Instead, we should be mature enough (especially by seventeen) to realize that a national movement to remove the “N” word from our sociological discourse can only amount to a stifling of important discussions on race, race relations, and the need to remember the past in order to be grateful for our present.

Banning of books like Huckleberry Finn only serves to create more strife. And I would say this: if you don’t like the N word, if it offends you that much, then stop using it, yourselves. You don’t see Orientals going around saying: hey, chink, what’s up? You don’t see Jews going around saying: yo, Shalom Kike man! What’s happening?

This notion of “I can do it but you can’t” is the ultimate in social childishness and either it needs to stop, or we have to let the past truly teach us. Banning the past won’t help you in the future.

RESOURCES: Note:

Ibrahim Mohamed is Muslim according to a report from www.birdville.k12.tx.us which has since been removed from the website but may be found on Free Republic: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1919588/posts

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/01/america/NA-GEN-US-Racial-SlurClassroom.php

http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2000/09.28/huckfinn.html

http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/huckcen/vshuck1.html

http://www.lib.virginia.edu/press/96-97/twain.html

http://www.marxists.de/culture/twain/noteach.htm

Read banned books online at: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/banned-books.html

See the news story: http://www.dallasnews.com/video/dallasnews/hp/index.html?nvid=188564

NOTE: The Coalition of those demanding the ISD remove the book consists of members of the Dallas chapters of the National Black United Front, the New Black Panther Party, the Nation of Islam, the Black Coalition to Maximize Education, and the NAACP. It also includes DISD board member Ron Price, the Islamic Center of Irving and the Council on American Islamic Relations: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/110107dnmethuc kfinn.1c65c58d9.html In case you are feeling politically correct: http://943wybc.com/event_guide/stopthenword.html

Please note the logo: “Divided we Stand”. If you can figure out what that means, please let me know.