I am sure this will mark me as some kind of weirdo, and I admit not
having academic credentials;I am simply a lifelong Twain reader and lay
Twaniac.  But I have read long and hard of Twain and about Twain and
thought a lot about him and his works as well.

To me, Huck Finn is NOT primarily about "the psychological complexity of
the racist and our deep familiarity with him or her."

I believe it is about *the psychology complexity of human beings and
their foibles and flaws* and their occasional (but only occasional, and
somewhat shaky) ability to be "good" or "do the right thing."  Clearly,
in Huck Finn, racism and its epitome in slavery is a major foible and
flaw, and in fact a downright evil (although Huck doesn't not admit it,
I think any fair reading of the book would be that the author of the
book sees slavery as an evil) --  but even in Huck Finn, racism and
slavery are far from the only foibles, flaws, or evils depicted.

If you guys think Twain would have been uncomfortable with Dubois and
Marcus Garvey, imagine how uncomfortable he would be with a group of
today's "race/gender/class" academicians!!

Steve Hoffman
Takoma Park MD