Mississippi School District Removes “To Kill a Mockingbird”

LYLLI DOUNG STAFF WITER
The classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” written by Harper Lee, was pulled from the English curriculum in Biloxi, Missi.. The decision was made on the week of Oct. 9 and was not voted by the board members of the school board. According to Kenny Holloway, the vice president of the school board, there were complaints about the book making people uncomfortable and that there are other ways to teach the same lesson. One reason for the banning of the book was because the book contained over 50 n-words.
“They’re giving the past too much power over our development. We should be learning from the past and we have to accept we need to be jaded to understand the world around us,” sophomore Natalie Rio said. “Banning the book is keeping us ignorant and we won’t be able to handle tough conversations that may be about a topic we aren’t comfortable with.”
The book will still be available in libraries, public and in school, but they schools will no longer have to taught to the eighth-students.
“I believe empathy and perspective are some of the greatest insights we can gain from reading,” English teacher Rachel Lee said. “Sheltering students and controlling information simply to protect seems counterintuitive.”
According to the American Library Association (ALA), the book had similar controversy in other states, like Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. From 2000 to 2009, the booked ranked number 21 on the ALA’s list of most banned books.
There are banned books in every state. Some banned or challenged books in California are The Fault in Our Stars, To Kill a Mockingbird and Gone With The Wind. The book The Fault In Our Stars, written by John Green, was pulled from the shelves of Frank Augustus Miller Middle School in Rancho Cucamonga because the book involves explicit language and the death of teenagers due to cancer. In Riverside, California, the book was reported to be inappropriate for the age group. To Kill A Mockingbird was banned with similar reasons as other states, for use of language that make others uncomfortable and racial content.