TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

SeoulBrother comments on removing “nigger” from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:

To edit the word from our literature we actually decriminalize the climate and context in which it was used. We allow the romantic notion of The Good Ol’ Days to go unchecked. If we let that happen slavery gets reduced to young Anakin Skywalker pouting because he can’t get time off to compete in the Pod-races, bigotry becomes a rednecked, chew spittin’ caricature instead of the well dressed, even toned bank manager denying a loan and racism becomes something that used to happen. “Nigger” keeps that in check. It’s like a birth certificate for both America’s slavery and apartheid—proof that it happened.

We need to feel uncomfortable about “nigger” so we can learn from the mistakes that created, fed and nurtured it. We need “nigger.”

When we discussed Huck Finn in school, my teacher used the word without any way of masking it, or making clear he was only using it because it was in the book—he just said it. It was jarring at first.

And that’s how it should be: it is an important element in the book and in its point. It helps capture the period’s brutality. Sanitizing it is to also reduce our understanding of an integral part of our history.

(Via Neven Mrgan.)