Is this issue about HF or about a much bigger issue? I Dr. Britton: Is this issue about HF or about a much bigger issue? I've been listening, watching and reading the commentary from numerous sources and it appears to me HF is just a part of a much grander agenda - rewriting and thereby "softening" the way things were. For example, will the next step be a rewriting of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and other literary works that depict a time different than what really existed? Much of the history of the West and the treatment of the Indians does not describe actual events, broken promises, etc. Just saying. ________________________________ From: Wes Britton <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Thu, January 6, 2011 10:44:47 AM Subject: the cost of teaching HF =20 Back in 1990, 1991, I taught Huck at an all African-American college in = Dallas, TX. I wasn't certain this would fly, but the new English Chair = said to do what I thought was right. So, with considerable thought, I = led up to Huck by teaching Frederick Douglass and then Charles = Chesnutt's "The Goofered Grapevine," the latter specifically to discuss = black writers using the N word. This allowed me to come at the subject = by way of a black author before hearing it in the words of Twain. =20 As it happened, this unit coincided with a controversy at a nearby = school district where a parent was spearheading a drive to dump Huck = from the school. Racial tensions were rather high as the Rodney King = riots had happened just a few months before. So the very hot issue was = in the air, to put it mildly. So, for me, the most memorable moments = occurred on the final day of talking about Huck. =20 I asked the class to pretend we were on "Nightline" and that Ted Koppel = was asking them about reading Huck in light of the current discussions. = How did they feel about a class of black students reading the book? The = responses ran the gamut-1/3 of the class decided the book should be = taught at a higher grade level, but not to classes 7th grade or lower. = About 1/3 thought the book should be banned, period. (I learned later, = judging from their exams, some of these folks had simply refused to read = it in the first place.) Another third said the book should not be = banned. One of these girls told the class that her father had not = allowed her to read it in high school, had thrown the book in the closet = calling it trash. "This is that book," she said, holding up the book. = That was rather a poignant moment for everyone. =20 =20 I learned several things in that class and others to follow. The N word = was almost secondary to the shame and embarrassment of talking about = "slavery times." Several students complained both Twain and Chesnutt = were exaggerating black speech as they did not like the idea slaves = spoke in non-standard dialects. Those who championed the book were = elated when they discovered Jim was the hero of the story and listed off = the attributes that endeared him to them. But, over and over, in this = class and others, the core of student pain was slavery times, and I = suspect this will be ever thus. =20 A few weeks after this unit, I was fired by the college, the VP citing = the teaching of Huck as the core reason. Would things have turned out = differently had I taught an expurgated version? I doubt it. Intelligent = students would know a euphemism is just a euphemism-but a clear = distinction seemed plain. A black writer dealing with racism has = credibility; a white writer, any white writer, could not touch the 3rd = rail. =20 Over the years, the N word has popped up when I least expected it. I = recall teaching "The Big Bear of Arkansas" at a different college when a = black student told me he was enjoying the story until the word was = uttered by one character, and then he lost interest in the story. Just = one utterance, the story was dead. So should the word be removed? Here, = there, and everywhere? =20 =20 Capitulating to those who object to offensive language, imagery of = witchcraft etc. etc. has already cost us much. When a colleague of mine = used an M&M song in a class on, of all things, Banned Books, one student = complained about being offended and her parents ran a campaign to get my = friend fired, or at least, punished in some way. The college president = wanted to remove him from teaching honor classes as an appeasement = until the faculty revolted. A teapot tempest, perhaps, but the point is = academic freedom and Freedom of Speech are always under assault. The = bastardized HF surely invites those objecting to other texts to propose = similar guttings in future editions. =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 Dr. Wesley Britton www.spywise.net Co-host, Dave White Presents www.audioentertainment.org/dwp