Seattle School District Removes 'To Kill a Mockingbird' over Racial Insensitivity
The politically correct attacks on the beloved classic To Kill a Mockingbird continued this week when a Seattle-area school district voted to remove the acclaimed novel from its 9th grade reading curriculum over complaints of racial insensitivity.
The Mukilteo School Board approved the resolution to remove the book from its curriculum on Monday night, a move supported by District Superintendant Alison Brynelson. The vote came after several students, teachers, and parents complained about the book’s alleged racial insensitivity, according to Fox News. Though the book has been removed from the reading curriculum, it will still be available in school libraries and teachers can teach about it if they choose.
District spokesperson Diane Bradford said that parents and students voiced “many legitimate and thoughtful opinions” about the novel when the school board voted to remove it on Monday night.
Bradford told Fox News:
It was clear from the comments received that there are many legitimate and thoughtful opinions about this novel and its place in school curriculum. The students who shared their experiences and thoughts with the board were especially compelling in their reasoning that there are other novels that can teach similar literary conventions and themes without causing further harm to students.
Bradford recalled the story of an especially triggered black girl who was left traumatized by the book after being the only person of color in the class to read it:
It really did a lot of damage. Not only was it uncomfortable but for her, it turned out to be traumatic because of the way that it was handled and what it brought out with her classmates. She said it actually led to more use of the n-word and she felt bullied as a result of her response in class.
The 1960 novel tells the story of a little girl named Scout Finch living in the racially-segregated deep south as she learns about the evils of prejudice, racism, and hatred when her father, Atticus Finch, defends a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman.
Though originally hailed as a classic for its stark depiction of blind cruelty, the book has come under scrutiny by woke scolds in recent years for its “white savior” narrative, among other various complaints. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, for instance, altered the book for his broadway adaptation, lamenting how the character Atticus Finch appears to be an apologist for racists. He said in 2021:
[embedded content]Upon reading the novel again, it struck that throughout the novel, Atticus is an apologist for racists. Throughout. His whole thing about you have to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. You really have to get inside someone’s skin and crawl around before you can really understand them.
That was a way of excusing Bob Ewell. ‘Well, you got to understand, he lost his WPA job, and that really brings a man down.’ He excuses his neighbor, Mrs. Henry Dubose. A terrible racist. ‘Well you got to understand, she stopped taking her pain medication, her morphine, that makes people a little crazy.’ He excuses the whole South,” he added.
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