Stumbled on a stat about 'To Kill a Mockingbird' that floored me

I was scrolling through the American Library Association's website last night, just doing some digging on banned books from the 80s and 90s, and I found out that 'To Kill a Mockingbird' has been challenged over and over for using racial slurs. What got me is that it's still in the top 10 most challenged books even today, like last year alone there were 14 reported attempts to pull it from school libraries in places like Texas and Florida. I always thought that book was untouchable because everyone reads it in 8th grade English class. But people are arguing it makes kids uncomfortable or teaches the wrong lessons about race. I get the discomfort, but banning it feels like we're pretending the problem doesn't exist. Have any of you seen this happen in your local schools or libraries?

1 comments

1 Comment

zarapalmer5d ago

and banning it just sweeps the hard stuff under the rug.