“Who could be offended at the Adventures of Huckleberry Turtle and Nigger Rabbit?”
Last night, The Daily Show took on the Huck Finn controversy, and the whitewashing of our history which, as I mentioned last week in connection with the failed reading of the Constitution, is merely an attempt to make white folks comfortable with the nasty bits in our history. Rather than learning from our mistakes, we just ignore them. In some cases, we completely erase history from the textbooks being read in classrooms across America. (I’m looking at you, Texas.)
Now a publisher has attempted to whitewash Huck Finn by replacing the word “nigger” with “slave.” Why? Because slave is way less offensive and it’s easier for white people to say, obvs; and above all else, we must make white people feel comfortable about the history of this country. (The publisher has also replaced the term “Injun Joe” with “Indian Joe” — thus transforming the Trail of Tears into the Trail of Tears of Joy.)
The whole notion is impossibly stupid and cowardly, for all of the reasons explained by Jamelle Bouie in his post on the subject at The Atlantic:
But erasing “nigger” from Huckleberry Finn—or ignoring our failures—doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t provide racial enlightenment, or justice, and it won’t shield anyone from the legacy of slavery and racial discrimination. All it does is feed the American aversion to history and reflection. Which is a shame. If there’s anything great about this country, it’s in our ability to account for and overcome our mistakes. Peddling whitewashed ignorance diminishes America as much as it does our intellect.
“Nigger” really makes our white brothers and sisters uncomfortable. I had a friend who was so uncomfortable saying the word “nigger” that he wouldn’t even say it when it came up in a hip hop jam. I bet some of you are a bit envious that I “get to say” nigger without running the risk of being stabbed. Poor white people. It must be hard to suffer under the yoke of such lingual oppression. (I joke, of course. I know most of you know that, but some of you are prone to pearl clutching, so just stop it.)
My take on saying “n word” as opposed to “nigger” is this: If you’re going to say it, say it. (If you’re going to say it and it’s directed at me, you better be wearing flame retardant clothes.)
Essentially, (as I’ve said in the past) I subscribe to the Louis C.K. school of thought:
Anyway, if you missed it, here’s The Daily Show‘s take. It’s hilarious. (Yeah I said it, Louis! Get off my back!)
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Mark Twain Controversy | ||||
|
||||
[Full transcript after the jump for all you furriners]
We turn now, as we do every Tuesday, to literary news. By the way, thank you so much for your letters last week on symbols of death in Anna Karenina. This week, we turn to Mark Twain’s beloved Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It’s a story about a young Southern boy who befriends an escaped slave named Jim. We’ve all read the book. I’m sure there will be some questions concerning the story. Yes, CBS News?
CBS NEWS (1/5/2011): On one page of Huck Finn, Twain wrote the n-word 6 times.
I feel like that may be a trick question. I feel like really any answer I give is going to get me in trouble. But the publisher of this new book says, “yes”. New South, their new edition of Huckleberry Finn aims to appease the sensitivities of modern readers by replacing all 219 instances of said word with the word “slave”. Here with his perspective, Senior Black Correspondent, Larry Wilmore. Larry.
LARRY WILMORE: Thank you, Jon. Well, congratulations on the promotion Jim. Wow, this is a huge upgrade, from nigger to slave. Yeah, that’s like a show going from the WB to UPN.
JON STEWART: Well, the editors of this new version are trying to make the book more accessible, they say, so that it can be taught without making students in the classroom, who may be uncomfortable, repeat the word nrnrnnrnrnrnr….
WILMORE: I’m sorry?
STEWART: Just so that the children don’t have to say, in the class, say nnrnrnrnernnnrr….
WILMORE: I’m sorry, what word were you…
STEWART: Nnnnnuuuuuuu….
WILMORE: Say it, Jon!
STEWART: Nnnnniiiuuuuuuu…. It’s uncomfortable!
WILMORE: And it should be! Look, Mark Twain put that word in for a reason. The n-word speaks to a society that casually dehumanized black people; “slave” is just a job description. And, it’s not even accurate! In the book, Jim is no longer a slave. He ran away! Twain’s point is he can’t run away from being a nigger.
STEWART: Yeah, for that you’d have to be pretty fast, I would….
WILMORE: Nice one, Jon. Nice.
STEWART: But you know, a lot of high schools, though, were refusing to teach the book at all because of the words. And isn’t this minor change a way to expose more kids to good literature?
WILMORE: Yeah, but it’s bad history. Look, as long as you’re changing things, why stop there? What about the illustrations? They’re offensive.
Huck and Jim look so poor.
Aw, that’s better. Yeah, there you go! Now get them out of those dirty clothes.
Naw, you know, a man and a boy alone, kinda creepy. Hey, make Huck a hot girl!
Close…
Perfect! Look, Jon! See, Jim’s not a slave, he’s the king of the world! You know, fuck it, just turn them both into talking animals.
There you go! Now who could be offended by the Adventures of Huckleberry Turtle and Nigger Rabbit? Nobody!
STEWART: How… in what… how do you, just out of simple curiosity for me, how do you decide which animal is….
WILMORE: You’re missing the point, Jon.
STEWART: All right, all right.
WILMORE: Look, using that word doesn’t make the book offensive to today’s kids. They’re very accustomed to it. In fact, if you want kids to pick up the book, emphasize that word! Hey, pimp the cover!
Yeah! See, lookit, he’s got a grill. Say it’s written by Lil’ Twain. Jon, that will be a young adult bestseller. Just leave Jim alone.
STEWART: You know what, you’re very passionate in your defense of the character Jim.
WILMORE: I have to be, Jon, otherwise they’d take the brother out of the book completely.
STEWART: Well, I don’t think they’d take him out….
WILMORE: No, believe me, they already tried. They made a TV movie version in the 1950s that did away with the Jim character completely!
Look, that’s just Dennis the Menace on a raft! What the fuck, 1950s?
STEWART: Larry, when do you think we’ll get over this urge to whitewash our history?
WILMORE: Well, not as long as this Congress is in session, Jon. Remember last week when they read the Constitution out loud for us? They chose to leave out the clause designating slaves as 3/5s of a person. Hey, it’s our history. Just because you’re embarrassed to be caught on C-SPAN reading it doesn’t mean we can’t handle it. This country’s had plenty of blemishes, but it’s OK to be seen without your makeup on, America. People still want to fuck you, you’re rich!
STEWART: Larry Wilmore, we’ll be right back.
You’re welcome.
[TDS images via Bruin Kid]
[cross-posted here at Balloon Juice]
Gads, this is complicated, too complicated to address sufficiently in a comment, but let me try.
I am a white boy who was raised just south of Memphis, Tennessee, I have lived in Phoenix, Arizona, Portland, Oregon, Austin, Texas, and Grenoble, France, and I recently moved back to my boyhood home in Southaven, Mississippi. I was astonished (and disgusted) to find the Confederate battle flag still flying in front of BBQ joints, proudly displayed on the front license plates of pickup trucks, on T-shirts sold at the local flea market that had at least as many black attendees as white, and other signs of complete lack of evolution of thought on racial divides in the 25 years since I moved away.
I have never called anyone a nigger, and I am uncomfortable with that word because of my shame, the shame I feel because of the culture I grew up in.
I don’t want to remove that word from any literature, and I don’t want to dictate how anyone else uses it. However, I still feel a deep shame every time I read or hear the word, even though I never used it to dehumanize another human being.
Unfortunately, from what I see in Southaven now, my shame will not be alleviated in my lifetime.
Actually the altering is only happening with one specific, one school only edition:
http://thisislikesogay.blogspot.com/2011/01/bang-head-against-wall-repeat-as.html
and granted, there have been black kids who felt awkward when presented the novel and it’s language without context:
http://www.racialicious.com/2011/01/06/voices-the-huckleberry-finn-controversy/#comments
http://community.livejournal.com/sf_drama/3139704.html?thread=581892728#t581892728
Ack!!! I think my use of one of the words from the post title has put my previous comment in moderation purgatory…
:-(
I wasn’t trying to offend, really!!!!
No worries, Jack! I put that word on my blacklist because someone used it offensively and I’m not going to be insulted on my own blog.
I approved it.
Thanks for commenting! Stick around. :)
Heh, years ago (around 5 or 6) I imposed moderation on ALL the comments on my weblog, because the idiocy we see in the comments is not exactly a recent phenomenon, so no worries.
:-)
yeah, no kidding. i’ve never had to do it before a month ago. as a general rule, i don’t moderate because i don’t like it when other bloggers moderate for content or only allow views with which they agree to be posted. but comments that are nothing but insults? no thank you!
Had to come over and post from Balloon Juice just to give some props.
And sadly yes, I know several white guys that are openly resentful they are not allowed to use the N word. Because they’re the real victims, you see. THEY never oppressed anyone, so now it’s unfair they can’t use oppressive language.
Blows my mind.
thanks for making the jump over here.
and yes, for some, it’s the same argument used to complain about diversity requirements in hiring or admissions to school.
Reading this has made my head ache less. Well well said.
I can’t believe this, all I can do is laugh. I’m not afraid to say it. Words are not oppressive. Language is not oppressive. Its how its used that is oppressive. You give power to words like that by doing the exact thing this publisher is doing (and like what was said; it sort of ruins the point twain was going for). Why stop here? why not edit out all the violence in hamlet to make it more accessible for grade schoolers.