Huckleberry Finn good for starting positive discussions about race

Carmen Van Kerckhove:

written by Anti-Racist Parent contributor Deanna Shoss; originally published at Intercultural Talk

My dad and I came to an impasse again recently. It happens whenever we get into a conversation about race. Or more specifically, a conversation about something that happened in the news or real life where people of different races were involved. As in "they believe this way" from him, and "you can't call an entire group of people they" from me.

It always ends with him thinking that I think he's racist, and with me thinking that he thinks I'm all about politically correct language with no real depth of meaning. Rather than digging for clarification, we back away from the conversation. The funny part is that this time we were agreeing about the same thing: Huckleberry Finn should not be banned.

This conversation has been lingering for a few months after my father introduced the book to my 8 year old son, who let me know by announcing that he had learned the 'N' word. I've blogged about it here and here. It reintroduced me to Mark Twain, who really is a brilliant writer, and it created an insight into institutional racism that I hadn't anticipated, when Dillon said "back then this word was okay to use."

Via a kind reader's email.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at October 12, 2009 2:09 PM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas