''To Kill a Mockingbird' suspended from the curriculum for racial slurs

Harper Lee and Mark Twain’s literary classics were removed from classrooms in Accomack County, in Virginia after a formal complaint was made by the mother of a biracial teenager. At the centre of the complaint was the use of the N-word, which appears frequently in both titles. Guardian UK reported.

Marie Rothstein-Williams, the mother of a mixed race child, told a school board meeting: "I'm not disputing this is great literature, but there is so much racial slurs in there and offensive wording that you can’t get past that, and right now we are a nation divided as it is."

She added: “What are we teaching our children? We’re validating that these words are acceptable. They are not acceptable. Truly we are divided. We will lose our children if we continue to say that this is okay, that we validate these words when we should not."

The books have been temporarily removed while a committee assesses whether they should be permanently banned.

Lee and Twain’s classics are high on the list of most frequently challenged Young Adult books in the US, according to the American Libraries Association. Also on the list are The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, four Judy Blume titles, the Diary of Anne Frank and Romeo and Juliet. Guardian UK added.

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