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Ibram X. Kendi on To Kill a Mockingbird, which he describes as the “Uncle Tom’s Cabin of the civil rights era.”
This is why I will not teach it again. I mistakenly believed, when I first read it as a HS-student, that it decried racism.
In the years I taught it, I thought the same. However, Dr. Kendi is right. I will say at least Go Set a Watchman was more honest; Atticus was no White savior in that book, but a deeply flawed and racist man.
I think the novel speaks to White people who want to do something, but this novel isn’t it. It uses Black characters as props for White people to learn about racism. Teach Just Mercy instead.
Also, note I didn’t use the word “ban.” I think some people lately do not seem to understand the difference between not teaching a book and banning it.
