THE ' N ' WORD

IS IT RIGHT TO REWRITE MARK TWAIN'S MASTERPIECE
A new version of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn drew fire by replacing the word "nigger" with the word "slave" and "Injun Joe" with "Indian Joe" to make the book more acceptable to teachers. (In Twain's day, changing words to make literature more politically palatable was called "bowdlerization" after Thomas Bowdler, an English physician who published a "cleansed" version of William Shakespeare's work he deemed more appropriate for 19th century women and children). It isn't often that a new edition of a 19th century novel draws such heated condemnation.
Meanwhile papers were also abuzz this week with debate over the use of the "N" word after a U.S. anchorman sued WTXF-Philadelphia, which had fired him for using it ( he was querying whether the station should use the term 'N-word" or the word itself to cover a story about the NAACP holding a mock burial of the word). And Thursday night, two Ontario minor hockey teams- The Napa Auto Parts and Austin Trophies- played against each other for the first time since the Napa coach pulled his team from the ice in November after a memeber of the opposing team yelled the "N-word" at one of his players. The teams tied, and the coach hopes they all learned a lesson.
Mark Twain's book Huckleberry Finn is No 4 on the list of of most banned books in American schools.
Attempting to sanitize the book is not the answer. Intelligent and sensitive discussion with students would be a better response. Trying to protect students from the full ugliness of racisim by softening that language does a disservice to them.
Sticks and stone may break my bones but names will never hurt me.