Taylor, Mich. — Forever praised and forever controversial, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" has been pulled from classes in this Detroit suburb because of complaints about its liberal use of common racial slurs.
In a move that's dogged Mark Twain's classic since its 1885 publication, Taylor School District officials halted instruction of the book some consider the great American novel after at least one black parent complained about the racial epithet that's repeated more than 200 times on its pages.
Taught in the district for years without incident, the controversy began when an English teacher decided to have a class read the book aloud and act it out. The class, however, had only one black student who regularly heard classmates repeat the slurs.
The book is still on the shelves at Kennedy and Truman high schools in the district, but no longer on the syllabus.
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"We want to be sensitive to how the children feel," said Lynette Sutton, assistant superintendent for secondary instruction.
In top five most banned
Some parents and students in Taylor, however, are upset about the decision. The 10,000-student district is 74.5 percent white, 20 percent black and 4 percent Hispanic, according to the district.
Parent Cyndee Push claimed school officials in her daughter's 11th-grade class told students not to discuss the decision with anyone.
"She said, '`Mom, it's a good book. There are other books on the shelves that have worse words in it,' " Push said. "It didn't sound like the teachers were happy about it, the kids weren't happy about it, nobody was happy about it.
"We all read this book as a kid — I want to see this book on the shelves. It's about what it was like then. I don't think it should be removed, it should just be discussed."
The action is hardly unique to Taylor. The American Library Association named the classic one of the five most- banned books in the United States during the 20th century.
In earlier years, it was targeted because of its sympathetic portrayal of blacks. Now, it's because of the ethnic pejorative used to describe Huck Finn's friend, a slave named Jim.
Praised by literary critics for its use of everyday language and American themes, the novel remains a staple in many Michigan classrooms. But it's taught carefully, educators said.
Lawrence Berkov, a professor emeritus who teaches Twain at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, said good teachers shouldn't be intimidated by language in the book, which he called brilliant and profound.
"The fact that the (word) is used in the novel . . . is disturbing, but it's the job of the teacher to explain why," Berkov said.
