The original linnk was cut off in my email, so I had to do a search when I got to the Guardian. I'm glad I did for I saw reference to an earlier banm just at end of last year. I thought we'd moved past this mistake. Also meant more to me because, although I haven't been there, Accomack County is where some of my 17th Century irish ancestors set down their new roots. Arianne Laidlaw : To Kill a Mockingbird removed from Virginia schools for racist ... <https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/dec/05/to-kill-a-mockingbird-removed-virginia-schools-racist-language-harper-lee&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwiCge2R96jZAhUh5oMKHQ-aBzgQFggIMAE&client=internal-uds-cse&cx=007466294097402385199:m2ealvuxh1i&usg=AOvVaw2B2LdStxb-LFwccwSkcAW0> <https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/dec/05/to-kill-a-mockingbird-removed-virginia-schools-racist-language-harper-lee> Dec 5, 2016 *...* *Harper Lee* and *Mark Twain's* literary classics were removed from classrooms in Accomack County, in Virginia after a formal complaint was made by the mother of a biracial teenager. At the centre of the complaint was the use of the N-word, which appears frequently in both titles. The woman who made the .. On Mon, Feb 12, 2018 at 6:50 AM, Barbara Schmidt <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Every time I read about one of these "banning" controversies, I am reminded > of Jocelyn Chadwick's excellent essay in _Critical Insights: Adventures of > Huckleberry Finn_ (Salem Press, 2017). Chadwick decries such efforts which > are undertaken for "children who somehow require the aid of benevolent > white and black critics to think and reflect for them." Chadwick further > states, "Today's students are proving more than capable of having these > hard conversations; indeed, they flourish in them because they want to > think and break apart and analyze and understand." A highly recommended > essay from an outstanding Mark Twain scholar for any school board wrestling > with such issues. > > Barb > -- Arianne Laidlaw A '58