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You're really reaching (again). Hope you don't strain a muscle.
That's a shame, and you're right - diluting the racially charged atmosphere of 1930s Maycomb, Mississippi dilutes the lessons to be learned by the story.
Not two-party politics, anyway.
Amen to that. It's annoying, to say the least.
"To Kill a Mockingbird" is set in the fictional small town of Maycomb, Alabama, not Mississippi.
I am so glad to learn this. The decision to cancel seems to have been made in haste, whereas framing the production with a discussion of this kind should help with understanding of the various underlying issues. Wish there were to be more than one performance, so all who would like to see the play could attend, but this is a big rational step forward and I am sure the kids involved are elated to get to perform, after all their hard work.
Glad to hear that common sense prevailed. It was just some of the kids who caused the controversy--and actually, they were exercising their First Amendment right to free speech. So in a way, that's a good thing.
As a former school librarian and teacher, we tried very hard to never censor anything. (One time we had to hide the old issues of Playboy Magazine due to an over zealous teenage boy, lol). Other than that, we stood up to those who didn't want history to be told or wanted to block a work of literature from getting its message out. You have to consider art within the context of its time. If that takes some explaining, then so be it. There's a lot to be learned!
Not at all. Read the US public school results, again. Either minorities are significantly less intelligent than Asians and Whites (they're not), or educators (mostly left-wingers, evidence: teachers unions' political donations, 94% to Dems) are deliberately keeping them dumbed down.
Anyone with half a brain knows why it was REALLY canceled and using the n-word was a cheap excuse.
The problem here is that it deals with false accusation, which in the current era is a politicized topic even when it shouldn't be. The innocence project just got a black man out of jail a few weeks ago after over 2 decades in jail for a false rape.
The idea that someone can sabotage a production dealing with the current topic facing BLM by instead crying racism for showing it because they want accusation = conviction? That's one sick sick lie.
While I understand that saying the n-word in the play would illustrate the point of racism so well, why couldn’t the school forego using that word in the play? It’s not that important to the overall theme, and it would be very jarring to hear that from high school students.
Instead of canceling, they should have released a statement that they wouldn’t use the word, but that the story is more timely than ever.
While I understand that saying the n-word in the play would illustrate the point of racism so well, why couldn’t the school forego using that word in the play? It’s not that important to the overall theme, and it would be very jarring to hear that from high school students.
Instead of canceling, they should have released a statement that they wouldn’t use the word, but that the story is more timely than ever.
The students need to hear it in order to understand why it is so offensive.
Sorry all, I've been busy this weekend, youth hockey season is here. Here's the latest update (#4) from the school district:
Dear Parents and Guardians,
As we move forward with the upcoming Community Conversation on Race on Tuesday, October 16 at 7:30 pm in the SHS Barbara Gensler Theater and production of To Kill A Mockingbird and post-play talkback session on Wednesday, October 17 at 7:00 pm in the SHS Barbara Gensler Theater, I would like to provide you with an update regarding the District’s plan to provide safety and security at both events. To begin, I would like to share background information surrounding the decision to cancel last weekend’s production of To Kill A Mockingbird.
On Thursday, October 11, as our students were preparing for opening night of the production, our District received multiple communications by phone from individuals from outside Shorewood indicating that there would be protests and community action organized to express strong opposition to the production’s sensitive content. These communications were not threatening any specific harm to our students and staff, but were instead strong expressions of opposition to the sensitive language in To Kill A Mockingbird, indicating that we could expect significant protests to take place. We were previously aware that some students may protest the production and felt that we were prepared for that level of protest, however, the escalation of the scope of the protests to include individuals from outside our community heightened our concerns about preparedness to ensure a safe environment.
Given the expectation that there would be potentially sizeable protests organized at the high school that evening, and given the very short amount of time our administration and staff had to prepare for these protests, the decision was made to cancel the production until our District could better prepare and respond to potential protests associated with the production. This was, at the time, considered the best option to ensure preparedness and safety for all concerned.
Again, the communications we received did not indicate that specific threats were being made toward our students and staff. Also, the communications did not indicate that we could anticipate safety or security concerns in our schools or at other District events or activities.
After careful consideration over the weekend, and many conversations with students, staff, families, and community members, the decision was made to schedule a Community Conversation on Race on the evening of Tuesday, October 16 followed by a single, one-night performance of To Kill A Mockingbird and a talkback session on Wednesday, October 17. Cancelling the weekend productions allowed us the time necessary to prepare for the Community Conversation on Race and the one-night performance and talkback session. The District is coordinating with local law enforcement officials to make sure that we have a strong security presence on both Tuesday and Wednesday evening to ensure the safety of our students, staff, families, and community members.
I will share another update tomorrow afternoon with additional information, including more event details and ticket information.
Unfortunately we're unable to attend either event. This story has made the news almost every day. I drove by the high school this morning and saw cameras sitting in wait.
Why can't people understand that WORDS can not hurt you? If we condition kids to ALLOW themselves to be hurt by words or symbols we are weakening them, and making them more vulnerable to being offended by anything, and everything.
The N word is a part of our history, just like the Confederacy, the Founding Fathers, Prohibition, multiple wars, 9/11. and everything else. To ignore it is to not learn from the past and risk repeating it.
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