I’m not that guy who usually gets incredibly upset about political correctness.
I usually believe there’s a legitimate reason to use “he/she” or “firefighter” or “hearing-impaired.” “Freedom fries” was a bit too much for my taste, but everyone except uber-patriots who couldn’t utter a word of French felt like that.
But a story out of Flagler Palm Coast High just takes the cake. The school has decided to cancel the production of “To Kill a Mockingbird” due to the use of the “N-word.” This, to me, is where political correctness has gone too far.
One of the treasured rights of being an American is the ability to have the right to free expression and free speech.
Banned books are not something I’m a big fan of, and the decision by Flagler Palm Coast High is just spitting in the face of Lady Liberty.
This affects me most as a student who used to be heavily involved in theater. I would take my friends or teachers on when they challenged something they saw on our stage.
Artistic expression should reign supreme within reason. I understand “Rent,” “Cabaret” or “Chicago” might not have a place on the stage of a public high school (though I’d argue until I’m blue in the face that they should), but there’s no reason to ban a work as historically significant as an adaptation of Harper Lee’s magnum opus.
It also affects me because “To Kill a Mockingbird” is one of the most significant books I’ve ever read. Atticus Finch inspired me to pursue law, and Lee helped me believe justice persists even if it wasn’t delivered in the courtroom.
It absolutely pains me that this work that inspired me and so many others is being silenced for the use of one racial slur.
Think about this for a second. What literature would the nation lose if they were censored for the use of a racial slur? “Fences,” “Schindler’s List” and “Angels in America” would cease to exist.
I understand the mindset of the school at a very basic level. Exposing young minds to intolerance wouldn’t be the smartest idea. But that mindset is completely wrong.
Intolerance doesn’t need to be silenced — it needs to be displayed, exposed and shown to be wrong.
“To Kill a Mockingbird” is not inspiring anyone to be a racist. If anything, it’s inspiring people to be anti-racist.
Lee’s intention was to be authentic and to portray conditions that would have been present in Maycomb, Ala. I sincerely doubt she was trying to rile up parents of high schools students.
“To Kill a Mockingbird” is a classic example of American literature, one that has inspired generations of students and teachers. It does not deserved to be silenced for the use of one word. Given, it is a word regarded with infamy, but it is a word also linked to the intolerance of the past, and the show deserves to go on at Flagler Palm Coast High.
Sean Quinn is a first-year political science student. His column appears every Wednesday.
