Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird banned in VA school

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Two American literature classics found across thousands of library shelves in the U.S. have been shelved, potentially for good, in one Virginia school system.

The Accomack County Public Schools removed “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” after a parent filed a complaint for the books’ use of racial slurs, according to multiple media outlets.

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Earlier this month, a parent voiced concerns to the school board about racial slurs in both of the novels.

“Right now, we are a nation divided as it is,” the mother is heard saying in an audio recording of the meeting on Nov. 15. She tells the board that her biracial son, a high school student, struggled getting through a page that was riddled with a racial slur.

“So what are we teaching our children? We’re validating that these words are acceptable, and they are not acceptable by any means,” the parent said.

Victoria Coombs, a mother of two, told 10 On Your Side she agrees that books with offensive racial slurs should not be read in schools.

“It’s not right to put that in a book, let alone read that to a child,” she said.

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