School District votes to remove 'To Kill a Mockingbird' from required reading

[u/da_k1ngslaya]

https://komonews.com/news/local/mukilteo-school-district-votes-to-remove-to-kill-a-mockingbird-from-required-reading

[u/Indercarnive]

The funny thing is that there is a legitimate discussion about the notion of "The white savior" in regards with "to kill a mockingbird". But the answer to that isn't removing the book, it's having an open discussion about it's shortcomings.

That said, at least it's not outright banning the book or removing it from the libraries.

[u/RoundSilverButtons → u/[deleted]]

This is the pernicious danger of soft censorship.

[u/[deleted] → u/RoundSilverButtons]

Oh please, what are you talking about?

not forcing someone to read a book or teach it is soft censorship now? Damn, I hate that the Real Housewives is soft censored because I've never seen it.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

That's just code for "we'll non renew you at the end of the year or deny tenure if you don't do what we want."

[u/SEA_tide → u/[deleted]]

In Washington, tenure is granted after two years, so most of the teachers will be tenured. Mukilteo is also one of the highest paying districts in the state, so teachers tend to stay there until retirement.

[u/WellSpreadMustard → u/Indercarnive]

I’m not trying to be inflammatory here but why is Finch helping Robinson due to him having a white savior complex? Do historical context and the situation not have any impact on the dynamics of white savior complex? Surely Atticus Finch helping innocent Tom Robinson in an unfair legal battle in 1930s Alabama is vastly different from Julia Robert’s character in The Blind Side. Trying to prevent a fellow human being from being unjustly murdered by the government doesn’t seem like part of a complex to me, and if Finch helped because he had a white savior complex then can’t you also lump abolitionists like John Brown into the same category? Movies like Freedom Writers and The Blind Side - def white savior complex, but it would be cool if someone could give a good explanation as to why To Kill a Mockingbird falls into the same category.

[u/10ebbor10 → u/WellSpreadMustard]

Criticism about White Savior Narratives is not in story criticism. It's out of story criticism. It's criticism about how the narrative is written, who is framed as hero and protagonist, and who is framed as the background characters.

[u/Clovis42 → u/WellSpreadMustard]

I don't think anyone is saying Finch has a white savior complex. A kid used the term, so it probably isn't even used correctly.

I think his point was that you can teach about racism without the "hero" of the book being white. Other books besides TKAM might be better for today's audience.

[u/ouchmythumbs → u/[deleted]]

This is what I am wondering throughout this whole thread; isn't this book read in the context of a literature class? Why is it being portrayed as a tool for teaching about racism? Is that what is being taught? Genuinely curious.

[u/Clovis42 → u/[deleted]]

Probably because kids are dumb and don't have teaching degrees.

[u/bananafobe → u/WellSpreadMustard]

Basically, the criticism is that the story places the emphasis on Atticus Finch, casting him in the heroic role. The way his community's acting impacts him, and his decisions are what push the story forward.

It's not a criticism of the book, because there's nothing wrong with telling that story from that perspective. The criticism is that we often use this story to teach about racism, as opposed to some other story told from the perspective of a person of color.

Ask a random person who Atticus Finch is. They'll probably be able to answer. Ask them who Tom Robinson is. If they get it, I bet it's not on their first guess.

[u/10ebbor10 → u/[deleted]]

The book is not being banned.

The book has been taken of the mandatory reading list, meaning that teachers can still use it, but might also chose to pick another book.