Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: rdb3; Khepera; elwoodp; MAKnight; condolinda; mafree; Trueblackman; FRlurker; Teacher317; ...
Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

2 posted on 10/29/2002 12:02:15 PM PST by mhking
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]


To: mhking
He said it made him uncomfortable as a student in a predominately white school,

I strongly suggest Williams (seen that name around recently) pack it up and move to Zimbabwe or Uganda or Somolia where the cultural and political environment is absolutely perfect. And no Huck Finn.

27 posted on 10/29/2002 12:59:22 PM PST by CWRWinger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies ]

To: mhking
If this proposed "sensitivity training" includes some critical thinking so that kids can appreciate Huckleberry Finn for its deeper message then maybe I could support such a thing. Otherwise, these folks need to get a life.
53 posted on 10/29/2002 7:34:58 PM PST by mafree
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies ]

To: mhking
Wow. The PC crowd never ceases to amaze me - in their feverish search for "hate speech" to stamp out, they miss the entire point and wind up trying to stamp out one of the most eloquent attacks on slavery and racial prejudice ever written.

When Twain was writing Huck Finn, the negative attitudes expressed by some of the characters in the book (not Twain himself) were far from dead, and Twain attacked them with gusto. Some are obviously flawed (Pap, the Duke and the Dolphin, the two feuding "aristocratic" families), some less so (Miz Watson and Tom Sawyer himself). The only characters that are good and true to the core are the despised Huck, scapegrace son of the town drunk, and his protector and friend Jim, the "non-person".

I think the objection to the use of the "n" word is just a stalking horse. Why would a bunch of river rats speaking what Twain called the "ordinary Pike County dialect" use anything but the common colloquial term of the day? Using something else destroys the authenticity of the language, which Twain took great pains over . . . read his introduction, in which he explains the different dialects used in the book.

The real problem the PC crowd has with this book is its absolute rejection of cant and hypocrisy, and the fact that the mighty (including those of a liberal turn of mind) are cast down from their seats and the humble and meek exalted.

My daughter's 8th grade class read Huck and her teacher (wisely IMNSHO) took on the PC attitude head-on. He had the kids research and write an essay taking one side or the other of the "read Huck or not" debate, explaining the reasons supporting their position. My daughter took the middle ground of "yes, read it, but discuss the issue of the language and what it meant in that day and time, and what Twain was trying to do." (There were two black kids in her class, BTW, they thought it was much ado about nothing and were good sports about the whole thing.)

64 posted on 11/03/2002 6:03:05 PM PST by AnAmericanMother
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson