Re Mein Kampf — perhaps the enlightened German Jews will inspire Heather Riesman to lift her ban on the book in indigo stores as well?

Chapters-Indigo or Indigo-Chapters? I thought they sold toys and stuff.

That is just depressing. Is this parent ignorant enough to think their child won’t – or hasn’t already – learn the word in some fashion? Are they trying to pretend it doesn’t exist in some pathetic attempt to keep their child innocent and pure? Those racial slurs are a pivotal part of North American history – they show us where we’ve been, what we still struggle with today, and where we never need to go again.

But nuts to that parent – the true embarassment is the school board for letting the book be pulled, and after only ONE complaint. Crap, I’m embarassed for wanting to be part of the educational system at this point. They’ve lost so much credibility in the blink of an eye.

Banning To Kill a Mockingbird is sheer stupidity.

My daughter attends St.Edmund Campion and will be entering Grade 10 in September. When she learned To Kill A Mockingbird was part of the course, she went to Chapters and purchased the novel and made it her Summer reading. Good thing she did because that obviously won’t be happening at school. I am very upset with Principal Kevin McGuire and the Separate School Board for letting this one complaint go this far. Perhaps this ignorant parent should read this classic novel and understand it for the times that it was written.

I want to know what this principals problem is.
With all the garbage being published today in books, movies and cd’s…
We should be gratefull for well written classics like
To Kill a Mockingbird.

Is he some distant relative of Adolf Hitler. Lets burn books?

I am outraged! How can we combat this? My son goes to SEC too.

Yet another example of racial problems in Peel Region… I sincerely hope that people living in that area will address this problem…

What is it about Brampton?

Okay, enough dissing of Brampton…I very much doubt if it has a monopoly on “racial problems” or on people who want to ban books when they have obviously not even read them. Anyone who has read Harper Lee’s classic knows that the author deliberately puts the said racial epithet only in the mouths of the evil, hateful characters. The entire book is a clear condemnation of prejudice in all forms.
Anyway, I don’t want my children reading “resources”. I want them to read literature.

I am truly sorry if what I am about to reveal offends my neighbours, however sometimes a little pain is necessary in the process of healing. I was deeply disturbed by the news that an educational facility in my own neighbourhood, was driven by the power of fear and ignorance to pull a classic book from the eyes of those, we trust this facility to educate, in the highest possible standard.

I am speaking of course of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “To Kill A Mockingbird”. The word Nigger as are the words NAZI and Fascist offensive and carries with it a shame and despair we all feel. To make this word vanish as though it never existed, seems to be the politically correct way to deal with history and those things we would just as soon forget. The book itself is a denunciation of the world that gave those words the power to inflict pain by the most extreme levels of human depravity we have ever known. It is the attitude which is the insult and the word is simply a collection of letters, which symbolize something much more real.

Ontario has a huge store of forgettable skeletons in our closet none the least of which, was our enthusiastic embrace of the science of Eugenics, nearly one hundred years ago. The remnants, to some degree, still survive today. The media and our schools paint a picture of a far away land where mistakes were made. There is no teaching or book to describe the horrors we inflicted on our neighbours, when we should all understand this happened right here in our communities and the tale needs to be told. Told and never forgotten, because we can never be whole or move ahead, if we don’t understand our shame and mistakes, so we will never be tempted to repeat them.

The elite among our brain trust in Canada were educated in a system all but devoid of the accurate history of racism as it was nurtured, in the century we just closed. How can we be trusted to make informed decisions when we are not considering the whole picture? “Disease management” as we are embracing today, in place of [or in competition with] the funding of medical treatments and cures” in our hospitals, is paralleled to the same enthusiastic healthism [blame the neighbours] movement, we witnessed in 1930s Germany, yet we seem unconcerned? Anyone can visit the Health Canada website and read the definition of a perversity known as “denormalization”. An act of government, not satisfied with the people or their personal choices, seeks to create grass roots discrimination against those no longer considered normal by their standards. The process of punishing the unwise smoker, drinker or the obese until they mend their ways; is somehow not compliant with their mandate in service of all the people.

The UN in 1945 with an urgent need to denounce the Nazi politics, which survived the Second World War, asked the scientific community to evaluate the problem. The answer was obvious and unanimous, if we all originated from the same lake of primordial ooze as Darwin surmised; the thought of protecting the gene pool from infection by inferior races was only ignorance. Because if we all came from a common source, the only variances we see among our neighbours are environmental. If our children understood the concept, we never seemed to accept; that throwing a racist insult at someone else is simply an insult against yourself, because we are all [with few exceptions]one race, it is more formally known as the human race. Logically any racist comment or word would loose any ability to hold power or inflict pain.

There is a huge misconception in the eyes of our community as to the meaning of the word racism; it is not a denouncement of another culture. It is the ignorance in the teaching that there are different races, beyond the truth; we are all actually the same. Multicultural heritage and the way it is being promoted today, suffers this same lack of distinction. When we denounce our Canadian culture, in the promotions of our divisions, we fall prey to the same racist ghetto mindset, which will always keep us divided and living in a series of ethnic ghetto communities in place of together in one. Turf wars which often develop between culturally divided communities, are simply a reflection of the jailhouse rules of separation and segregation, which defeats all understanding and breeds mistrust and fear.

For the school board who dares to burn books in my backyard, you are all sentenced to detention. I demand you read this book, and do a 500 word book report, to be judged by our children. After which you will call on the parents lodging this horrific and misguided request and teach them the error of their ways.

I blame the Journalists and the compressed “me too” media in Canada for fostering an acceptance, of our many divisions. Our greatest power is an enthusiastic embrace of our diversity in unity; Freedom and democracy in kind are more powerful when the diversity of opinions and free speech are protected. The “small L” politicised media needs to be told in no uncertain terms, you can do better and we deserve more than the stereotypes or regional, cultural and any of a long list of ways, our elected officials hope to divide us up.

Management is easier when sorting a few large packages and a lot harder when every item is different. Polls and statistics do not define me, nor should the task of management of my country ever be allowed to be expressed in such a lazy, simplified and oppressive manner. If the politicians are not up to the job of serving our interests beyond the self interests in the unbridled growth of government, perhaps it is time we found those who do, by electing only independent candidates and ending the entitlements of a more limited two voice democracy that speaks for no one.

I am truly sorry if what I am about to reveal offends my neighbors, however sometimes a little pain is necessary in the process of healing. I was deeply disturbed by the news that an educational facility in my own neighborhood, was driven by the power of fear and ignorance to pull a classic book from the eyes of those, we trust this facility to educate, in the highest possible standard.

I am speaking of course of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “To Kill A Mockingbird”. The word Nigger as are the words NAZI and Fascist offensive and carries with it a shame and despair we all feel. To make this word vanish as though it never existed, seems to be the politically correct way to deal with history and those things we would just as soon forget. The book itself is a denunciation of the world that gave those words the power to inflict pain by the most extreme levels of human depravity we have ever known. It is the attitude which is the insult and the word is simply a collection of letters, which symbolize something much more real.

Ontario has a huge store of forgettable skeletons in our closet none the least of which, was our enthusiastic embrace of the science of Eugenics, nearly one hundred years ago. The remnants, to some degree, still survive today. The media and our schools paint a picture of a far away land where mistakes were made. There is no teaching or book to describe the horrors we inflicted on our neighbours, when we should all understand this happened right here in our communities and the tale needs to be told. Told and never forgotten, because we can never be whole or move ahead, if we don’t understand our shame and mistakes, so we will never be tempted to repeat them.

The elite among our brain trust in Canada were educated in a system all but devoid of the accurate history of racism as it was nurtured, in the century we just closed. How can we be trusted to make informed decisions when we are not considering the whole picture? “Disease management” as we are embracing today, in place of [or in competition with] the funding of medical treatments and cures” in our hospitals, is paralleled to the same enthusiastic healthism [blame the neighbours] movement, we witnessed in 1930s Germany, yet we seem unconcerned? Anyone can visit the Health Canada website and read the definition of a perversity known as “denormalization”. An act of government, not satisfied with the people or their personal choices, seeks to create grass roots discrimination against those no longer considered normal by their standards. The process of punishing the unwise smoker, drinker or the obese until they mend their ways; is somehow not compliant with their mandate in service of all the people.

The UN in 1945 with an urgent need to denounce the Nazi politics, which survived the Second World War, asked the scientific community to evaluate the problem. The answer was obvious and unanimous, if we all originated from the same lake of primordial ooze as Darwin surmised; the thought of protecting the gene pool from infection by inferior races was only ignorance. Because if we all came from a common source, the only variances we see among our neighbours are environmental. If our children understood the concept, we never seemed to accept; that throwing a racist insult at someone else is simply an insult against yourself, because we are all [with few exceptions]one race, it is more formally known as the human race. Logically any racist comment or word would loose any ability to hold power or inflict pain.

There is a huge misconception in the eyes of our community as to the meaning of the word racism; it is not a denouncement of another culture. It is the ignorance in the teaching that there are different races, beyond the truth; we are all actually the same. Multicultural heritage and the way it is being promoted today, suffers this same lack of distinction. When we denounce our Canadian culture, in the promotions of our divisions, we fall prey to the same racist ghetto mindset, which will always keep us divided and living in a series of ethnic ghetto communities in place of together in one. Turf wars which often develop between culturally divided communities, are simply a reflection of the jailhouse rules of separation and segregation, which defeats all understanding and breeds mistrust and fear.

For the school board who dares to burn books in my backyard, you are all sentenced to detention. I demand you read this book, and do a 500 word book report, to be judged by our children. After which you will call on the parents lodging this horrific and misguided request and teach them the error of their ways.

I blame the Journalists and the compressed “me too” media in Canada for fostering an acceptance, of our many divisions. Our greatest power is an enthusiastic embrace of our diversity in unity; Freedom and democracy in kind are more powerful when the diversity of opinions and free speech are protected. The “small L” politicised media needs to be told in no uncertain terms, you can do better and we deserve more than the stereotypes or regional, cultural and any of a long list of ways, our elected officials hope to divide us up.

Management is easier when sorting a few large packages and a lot harder when every item is different. Polls and statistics do not define me, nor should the task of management of my country ever be allowed to be expressed in such a lazy, simplified and oppressive manner. If the politicians are not up to the job of serving our interests beyond the self interests in the unbridled growth of government, perhaps it is time we found those who do, by electing only independent candidates and ending the entitlements of a more limited two voice democracy that speaks for no one.

Maybe it was the wrong reason to take Mockingbird off the curriculum; but, on the other hand, it’s not a classic and it’s American. There is no need to put it on the curriculum again–it’s been on for years–ditto the dated movie. As for one parent complaining–that’s the way it is folks…one parent (if it’s the right one) can push through whatever his agenda is.

‘Not a classic’? What rock have you been living under, Von?

And what does it matter if the book is American, Canadian or whatever? The themes of the novel are not limited by its geography. The are universal. You don’t think the problems of racism occur in Brampton, Ontario?

Real Bruce Campbell would sort this out with his boomstick.

patricia says: “‘Not a classic’? What rock have you been living under, Von?”

Probably the one under your high horse.

It is undoubtedly regarded as a classic, but there are lots of classics. We’re inundated enough with American culture without having to view all of our social problems through the 50 year-old lens of American experience.

Given the limited exposure to literature students now have in schools, surely there must be Canadian novels, memoirs, etc. about these issues that would place such problems in the the context of our own country, and be more relevant to Canadian history and experience.

Meeee—oww, Paul.

Yes, I totally agree that students should also be reading Canadian lit. But that’s not the reason this book was yanked from the school’s curriculum. The board may be falling back on that flimsy excuse now, but the initial reason for removing the book was because ONE parent was offended by the language.

And quite frankly to just lie down and say, “well, it’s not a classic, and it’s American” is just a lazy man’s answer to the problem. The issue isn’t whether or not this school is studying enough Canadian books – the issue is that this high school caved and removed the book from its curriculum because of one (I’m willing to bet) uninformed complaint. If this parent had actually READ the entire book, he/she might have formed a different opinion.

Is this the kind of world we want to live in? One based on ignorance and intimidation?

I find it ridiculous how this classic has been taken out of the curriculum because of one complaint from a parent who is offended.
Considering when the book was written and the fact that one of the main topics in the novel IS the racism in the south.
By 10th grade every student has heard every offending word under the sun, so I wouldn’t think reading it in one book should cause such a fuss.
The mother is treating it as it were pornography, not literature.
Besides, the book isn’t promoting racism, actually it is teaching people that racism is wrong.
I read the book a few years ago when I started grade 10 and the only thing my parents can say about the book is that it’s a classic and we should read more books like it.

If a parent doesn’t want their child to read something that is part of a class they should just ask the teacher if they can read another book.

To the SEC parents who asked, “how to combat?” Address the Board. Force it’s hand to have the parent have the book reviewed. My guess is the parent didn’t follow protocol and the buck fell on the principal’s lap. To all of you chastising the principal, it is not the role of the principal to defend curriculum: it is the Board’s.

The Board has a policy, and should have to defend that policy, not the principal. In all the articles, the spokesperson for the Board claims there was no formal challenge and is making the principal the scapegoat: make the parent follow through, make the Board decide one way or another. Why is the novel okay for so many other DP schools and not SEC? The parent needs a wake up call to know they can’t push the buttons of all. One parent is not as strong as a 100.

To the parents of SEC who object and know their children are being shortchanged, get together: the book’s values far outweigh any negative impact that this so called parent feels it has on their child. Good Luck.

Earth to SirStirAlot:
The high school system is geared for fun and games. Parental protest, indeed! Get a grip on life–most or the time in a public high school is spent on extracurricular activities–academics just fits in…where it fits in and if it doesn’t it’s out. The students demand and get high marks and learning is frivolous FUN with a lot of different group activities to promote sociability. Mockingbird has always been a good choice because it’s short and there’s a video for the visual learners. You hardly have to think during the process, especially after the movie. As for the kid who actually bought the book–so she could read it in the summer. Give me a break–the school has scads of Mockingbirds lying around; she could have asked the teacher for one at the end of June.

Well said Kevin.

I agree with SirStirAlot, the principal shouldn’t get as much blame as he has been. Although I do beileve that he probably could have handled it differently.
And Jo, last time I checked there wasn’t anything wrong with buying a book that is on a reading list, is that even part of the issue?

What a shame that this parent and school has taken this action. My son read the book last year for school and he loved the book. It also reinforced what we as parents have taught him about racism through out the years. he learned much more because of it. The students will be missing out by not reading this book. To all students….this book is an awesome book. if you do not have it read it in school, I hope that you will readi it on your own.

I just read this book and enjoyed every page. I too am amazed what can happen when ONE parent complains…the principal should be ashamed of himself…talk about a coward…no wonder school administrators have become nothing much more than political puppets…then again, maybe he’s retiring soon…this school board should be embarrassed.

If one parent voice has enough power to get TKAM pulled, then many parent and student voices can get it reinstated…that’s what should be happening now. It will be a even greater shame if that doesn’t happen.

I have always heard of this book…and somewhere in this life’s journey I may have read it, but really don’t remember the details of it. I do however remember Romeo And Juliet and who doesn’t. You have peaked my curiousity. I will be purchasing it today. My son will be entering Grade 9 at EC. I think it’s a great school and the Principal is a wonderful man whom I have had the opportunity to meet a couple of times for a brief period. Unfortunately most of us believe we could stand up to the old saying…Sticks And Stones shall break my bones but words will never hurt me…however, most of us know that that is not true. I think that it was a guttsy move on the boards part to remove the book…and what it shows is that we can make a difference one person at a time…this parent aparently did. And for that I admire him/her. What have you done to make a difference lately?

I’m off to purchase that book!

Dear Brampton: The rest of the world is pointing and laughing. Suck it up, or get off your asses and do something.