Huck Finn and Censorship.

I want to begin this by saying I dispise the “N” word. It would not be a part of today’s vocabulary at all, by anyone, in my opinion. There are a few words I feel that way about. Such as the “C” word. I know it is politically incorrect to use these words, but that is not why I do not like them. In fact, over the past couple of years I have become more and more un-pc. I just feel they are rude and offensive and have the capability of causing harm.

Does this mean I feel that a classic book such as Huck Finn should be re-written because of the “N” word? No I don’t. First of all it is censorship. If we are going to take the word out of a classic wrote of literature, then shouldn’t the word also be taken out of any other piece of art? Such as rap songs. If we are going to censor Mark Twain, I certainly hope we are going to censor 50 cent. Let’s look at that. What would 50 cent (or any other rapper or singer in general) were told they had to re-write a song because it had offensive words in it? The singer would be yelling “it’s racism!” or “You can’t censor people in the U.S.” or “I am an artist, this is what I do!”. So let me get this straight, it is apparently ok to censor one of the greatest writers of the history of the United States, yet censoring a currently performing singer or actor or other kind of artist would be wrong. Our laws apply to the country as a whole. If we are going to say a word should not be used in a classic book, it also should not be used in any song, sung by any artist. Period.

Let’s look at Huck Finn. This is a book that was written in a time period when unfortunately the “N” word was used. Not only used, but used in a derogatory manner. Life was different then. But when reading a time period book would we rather have it whitewashed or read what actually went on during that time? What other books can we go through and change because they have words or actions that are not acceptable today? I mean is anyone re-writing Alex Haley’s Roots? Because if we are going to re-write books, we need to re-write them all. Anything pertaining to words we do not like, slaves, whippings, hanging, the Holocaust, Stonewall, the word faggot, dyke, anything at all offensive, needs to be removed from books. No matter that they are classics and are written about a certain time period. Nope, re-write them all. In fact, I insist that every book using the words faggot or dyke be removed from every book ever written! They are offensive to gays and lesbians! Does anyone else realize how ridiculous that sounds? If you are going to write a book about the glbt community from the 40′s all the way into the 90′s (and beyond) they are going to include offensive words. Those were words that were used for many years. If we are going to show an accurate portrayal of any subject during any time period, we need to use the language used during that time period.
Hopefully some day no words will be said in a derogatory manner. That will never mean we should ever re-write classical books or try to re-write the history of the United States. By chaning things such as Huck Finn, it is trying to change our history, make white American’s nicer than what we were. Come on people, that wasn’t the case. White people OWNED African American’s, they called them n******, we cannot change that. And it definitely will not be wiped out by taking a word out of a book. We need to own our history. We need to remember our history. Or else we will repeat our history!

Janet Lee Smith
01/10/11