I despise the N-word, no matter who uses it or in what context. I also despise hypocrisy and double standards, which is why I hate that you cannot ride a subway or bus in New York City without hearing someone of color use the word, which is taboo when uttered by whites but commonplace and sometimes even a bizarre term of endearment among blacks. I do not believe in certain words for certain groups. They can say it and no one blinks; I say it and I wind up at Beth Israel Hospital with eighteen knife wounds. I don’t think this is what Dr. King gave his life for.
The recent news that Mark Twain’s classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is being edited to remove the 218 occurrences of the N-word is disturbing. As a writer, I get furious if an editor changes one sentence, let alone something throughout a whole book. Many schools have refused to have Huck Finn in their curriculum because of the word in question. Deleting a distasteful racial epithet to appease those who may be offended by it sets a scary precedent. The N-word in Huck Finn shows the historical accuracy of the time the story is set. Those in favor of the new version say that the book will now reach young people who before would not have been given the book in school. To which I say, better they wait until they are older and decide if they want to read it, not be exposed to a sanitized version that its author never had any say over.
Could you imagine Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles without the N-word? The film is a classic example where the N-word was used a number of times not at the expense of Cleavon Little’s noble black sheriff but to show the ignorance of the backwards townspeople. In the new Huck Finn, all 218 N-words are replaced with the word “slave.” Should the N-word in Blazing Saddles be replaced by the word “sheriff?”
When a writer has been dead over fifty years, his work becomes public domain, meaning anyone can rewrite their own version of Hamlet and produce it without having to pay any royalties to the estate of Shakespeare. As a recently published author who combed over every comma and period in my book before it went to press, I fear for the future of the written word, especially as I see more and more people reading on these electronic tablets instead of having the sensual experience of turning the pages of a real book. Will these Kindle junkies get prompts that they must download a new version of one of their books because some of the passages offended some people?
Political correctness is the death of art. This is not a black or white or liberal or conservative issue – this is an issue of free speech and expression, something that everyone should value and fight for. In a capitalist society, we must support the existence of all types of art, no matter how personally offensive, and show our support or disdain with our wallets.
Altering the text of classic works of literature in 21st century America is downright dangerous, and Huck Finn appears to be one of the sad casualties.
