A public school system is temporarily removing two classic novels from bookshelves over their use of racial slurs after a parent complained at a school board meeting.
Accomack County Public Schools in Virginia pulled “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from the curricula, classrooms and libraries in the school system due to the complaint. Superintendent Chris Holland said the books will remain banned throughout Accomack County schools until a committee reviews the parent’s complaint and makes a recommendation on how to proceed to the superintendent, reports NBC4.
“It’s not right to put that in a book, let alone read that to a child,” Victoria Coombs, a mother of two in Accomack County, told WAVY.
The parent who complained said she has a biracial son who found a page with a number of racial slurs difficult to read. Some other parents said they agreed with the unidentified parent’s sentiment. Racial slurs crop up 48 times in “To Kill a Mockingbird” and 219 times in “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” according to WJLA.
Other parents in Accomack County expressed confusion at the outrage over two books that have been mainstays of school literature for decades.
“Everybody’s read it…it didn’t change a difference in my views at all,” Catherine Glaser told WAVY. “I’d like my son to read those books…my daughter’s mixed, and I don’t have a problem with it, I love those books.”
The superintendent says there is no timeline for the committee to review the complaint.
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