Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is one of the few non sci-fi books I read as a kid that I enjoyed reading, but I obviously didn’t enjoy what was happening, nor should I. It’s the tale of a man wrongly accused of rape due to his skin color as seen through the eyes of his defense lawyer’s daughter, who also learns not to judge others of her own race. The movie (which my middle school English teacher showed us after we read the book) was also a good story, with Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. I highly recommend both and I hope to do a Chapter By Chapter on the book if I can ever get a copy.
So imagine my disappointment in humanity when I read this article by Acculturated contributor Julia Dent about a school’s attempt to have the book pulled due to being “uncomfortable”. You know my feelings on “should”, such as I don’t think an entire genre should be forced to be one thing, but a story about racism and why it’s wrong SHOULD BE UNCOMFORTABLE! It’s supposed to be shown as a bad thing and something to be driven out and never happen again. But given how “racism” is approached and labeled these days I question if racial harmony is really the goal anymore. Please read this article.
