To Kill A Mockingbird is considered among the best of American literature.
The classic won the Pulitzer prize in 1961 after only one year from its publishing date, a very rare feat.
Not to be outdone, the movie adaptation of the book a year after that went on to win an Oscar–back when truly good movies won awards.
But apparently, none of that is worth consideration against the backdrop of kids whose feelings are hurt.
According to the Biloxi, Mississippi, School Board, difficult themes and language are inappropriate for eighth-grade school kids.
So they’ve decided to yank the book from the required reading list.
We’re pretty sure next on the chopping block will be War and Peace because there’s too much discussion of war and Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations for its endorsement of profit.
Here’s more from Redstate…
It’s a literary classic found in just about every junior high and high school classroom across America. But one school district is now pulling “To Kill A Mockingbird” from students’ lesson plans for an absolutely insane reason.
The Biloxi School District in Biloxi, Mississippi, said it made the decision this week to no longer have eighth grade students read the book after the school received some “complaints.”
“There is some language in the book that makes people uncomfortable, Kenny Holloway, vice president of the Biloxi School Board, told the Biloxi Sun Herald.
“We can teach the same lesson with other books,” Holloway added.
One Sun Herald reader described the move as “one of the most disturbing examples of censorship I have ever heard, the newspaper reported. The reader said that “the themes in the story humanize all people regardless of their social status, education level, intellect, and of course, race.”
“It would be difficult to find a time when it was more relevant than in days like these,” they added.
“To Kill A Mockingbird” was published in 1960. A year later, in 1961, the book won a Pulitzer prize and the very next year, in 1962, the story was turned into a Oscar-winning movie.
The book chronicles what life in the South was like for black people in the mid 20th century. The literary classic includes the N-word several times and uses the term “negro” on numerous occasions. The Biloxi School District will still allow the book in the library.
