The Burbank Unified School District in California has temporarily removed the classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” from its required reading list, among 4 other classic novels. The books are widely read in American literature. Parents have complained, saying that these books negatively affect black students. Parents said that students were using racist terms such as the “N” word. Parents and students attended a virtual meeting about the ban.
District Parent: “To assume that black students would feel comfortable even talking to their teachers or administrators on how that book would make them uncomfortable or how it’s adversely affecting them, is laughable.”
One student said that the problem comes from social media. She said her previous school didn’t have those books, but students were still saying the “N” word.
A Sophomore from Burbank High School: “However if the teachers just had better training, if the teachers could truly make the students understand what it meant, I think that could play a big part in solving this issue.”
She also said that banning the books would protect adults from resolving the issues, rather than protecting students themselves.
“That is an issue, however banning these literature [sic] that tell us about the terrible historical crimes is not the way to solve this.”
Reporting by David Lam