The Death of Nigger Jim

So the current publishers of Mark Twain’s classic novel, Huckleberry Finn, have decided to remove the word nigger from the book. Used over 200 times in the book including the constant reference to the runaway slave, nigger Jim, the word is set to be replaced with the word “slave”...Really? Slave Jim? The publisher says he felt discomfort over the language and by the reactions of younger readers. I’m not sure how young his readers are but I remember reading the book around the 8th or 9th grade and being able to understand the use of the word in context. I remember having teachers with whom I and my fellow students discussed the practice of the word as a chronicle of the time in which it was written. As I recall Jim was not even his real name and nigger Jim was used as a generic term for unnamed slaves. I was intelligent enough to understand that although the word was used as a put down and to keep black people “in their place” it had the complete opposite effect on Jim as nigger Jim was not the typical grinning Sambo as so many Blacks of that time were depicted. In fact he was an intelligent, courageous and complex character and really is the hero of the book.

So because some publisher is uncomfortable and to protect those who may be offended with its use we should pretend the word never existed and white wash the era and the history the book represents. This reminds me of the Arizona law enacted last year which makes it illegal to teach ethnic study courses in Arizona public schools as they teach minorities that they are oppressed by White people...Right! The fact is that the language contained in Mark Twain’s novel is important to the story and historically accurate for the period. Are we to edit all historical references and pretend like the hard, ugly parts of American history never happened to protect those from being potentially offended? Do we no longer show footage of the civil rights era because it includes recordings of Blacks being beaten and abused in the south by Whites? What about Richard Wright’s “Native Son”, Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" and the “Autobiography of Malcolm X”? Should they all be kiddie proofed as well?

The new publisher says he felt discomfort over Twain’s language and the reactions of younger readers. I say the younger readers should react and should be allowed to discuss rather than pretend an important part of American history never happened...and screw his discomfort. The use of the word in the book’s initial publishing caused very little controversy which makes it important to see how casually the word nigger was passed around during historical eras and it’s equally important to know why. To change the character’s name to slave Jim will only dismiss the dehumanization the character faced and further add to the revisionist history being pushed by the conservative movement. A movement which insist racism no longer exist in what they call the post racial Obama era and that the Civil War was solely about State’s rights. And anyway Jim was no longer a slave to anyone once he ran away but in their eyes he was always a nigger.