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"Huckleberry Finn" and the N-word

March 20, 2011 7:02 PM

A publisher's sanitized edition of "Huckleberry Finn" that replaces the N-word with "slave" over 200 times is the focal point for a debate on the use of the controversial word in American society. Byron Pitts reports.

"Huckleberry Finn" and the N-word debate

60 Minutes OverTimeThe "N-word": Is it ever okay to say it?

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by merkleh2 March 27, 2011 1:40 AM EDT
People walk through life as surface dwellers, obsessed with self-image and intimidated by tough conversations. Twain is one of the few historical giants who was never afraid to break through the boundaries in front of him, ask the tough questions, and tell the stories people needed to hear. His realism creates a window to the past, opportunity for the present, and hope for the future. The n-word is as much a part of this book as the plot is. Censoring Twain is the easy way out of a tough conversation and opportunity to hide a black eye in history. If we would just use the word as an opportunity and tool in viewing ourselves honestly, however, we might find a chance to begin healing that black eye we so desperately yearn to hide.
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by David Neutz March 26, 2011 12:40 PM EDT
HI,
thankyou for giving me the chance to make this comment.The huck finn arugement about the N word,there is a nother word that blacks don't want whites to say actually two words.THOSE ARE BOY,and BRO.Im white and Im in my 50's,and I said BOY to a young black man in his 20's.To defend myself I was using the word because of the age difference nothing else.He did'nt see it that way,and came close to hitting me.thank you,I had to get this off my chest.
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by oldfoxbob March 25, 2011 11:05 AM EDT
Has any one really read Huck Finn and realized that the bad people in the book are all WHITE? The word was used in many books in the past because people talked like that in the past ( both black and white ). Uncle Tom's cabin used the word. The children s tale of "Little Black Sambo" has disappeared. Blacks call them selves *******. Whites are called "crackers" so now we call the saltines "C word" brisket instead? Japanese are ****, Germans are Huns or Nazi's, Russians are Commies or Reds, Chinese are ******...Are we to eliminate all words that may or may not offend? This is impossible. The way to stop discrimination is to teach right from wrong in school by showing what happened in the past not by saying Oooh! Billy said a bad word! By doing that it increases the usage of the bad word. Mark Twain ( Samuel Clemens) must be turning over in his grave to see how we are butchering his works. Shame on the people who do that as you are no better than the book burners of Nazi fame.
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by mikerembis March 24, 2011 1:10 AM EDT
I believe that the controversy, intrigue, fascination and horror attached to the word "******" is not just the history behind it, but the result of its lack of true definition which created that history. Much like the word "****" which somehow finds itself into the vocabulary of every major language on earth and may be used as an all-purpose noun, pronoun, adjective or verb. I agree with author David Bradley's assessment that people should get over it and move on.

I grew up in Detroit in the 1960's and 70's. In Detroit, ****** was and still is a word used in daily vocabulary that while generally utilized as a racial slur toward black people when spoken by whites, could also be heard spoken by blacks as a common synonym for "buddy" when addressing a friend. From an early age I was taught that ****** was derived from the word ****** and had evolved to describe a lazy person. In our neighborhood you did not have to be black to be a ******, just lazy.

I am white and lived on the west side, in the city limits, not a suburb some people like to call Detroit. There were a lot of black people in my neighborhood. As a child I found it hard to believe that black people were considered a minority. To me, black people were just black people, white people were white, and ****** were people who were too lazy to work, black or white.

Pulling the word out of Huckleberry Finn and replacing it with slave is an atrocity. It destroys the value of the history lesson. In Huck Finn, "******" was used in multiple contexts describing Jim and others referred to as ****** in the story. While the primary definition is a slavery reference, if this arrogant publisher wanted to put any thought or work into their editing they would have utilized the subtext to replace the word "******" with not only slave, but also, laggard, buddy, property, guy, guard, dude, worker, lazy-ass, competitor, black man, black woman, uneducated, lower-class, unlucky sort, comrades and even friend. In the case of ******-head, a worthless stone in place of currency, one may us the work "rock".

This passage: "He ain't no bad ****** gentlemen; that's what I think about him." exemplifies Huck's first person account of the story as told to Tom Sawyer. He considered Jim a friend and others he called "******" in his recollection to be any of the aforementioned alternatives and possibly more.

When you hear the word "******" you must consider the context and source. In this case, Huck Finn lived in a time and place where ****** was a commonplace term that primarily referred to slaves, but was not a racial slur for its time, it was a definition. From Twain's perspective, at the time Jim and Huck were on the run, "******" defined the black experience but also serves as a multiple use metaphor to describe the American dilemma of poverty. Even if Jim became a free man, he would still be a ******.

In reflection of those who use the word ****** in the American society of 2011 we must take into consideration the context it is being used and the source. Rappers have multiple definitions, as do different cultures and neighborhoods. ****** does not mean the same thing to everyone who hears it. The essence of "******" primarily ties us to the experience of the American slave and those who take offense at the sound or feel it should be stripped from the human vocabulary must realize that language evolves. Even if they were to successfully eradicate the word from the English language, in every culture, there will always be a definition for ******.
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by plainWayne March 22, 2011 7:55 PM EDT
How does one or a group of one justify the act of murder in a word? A history of getting away with murder must end. Not a part of a country's fad?
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by chuck freeman March 22, 2011 12:33 AM EDT
wow when do we all stop finding new windmills to joust with It is a word used during a period when its impact was more pronounced like all things in the past it is just there I am not able to remove it from history any more than i can make my self of another race or sex get over it please allow the past to exist where it belongs in books and history the more you try to seem to make it something more than it is the more you make the issue futile what are you going to do next remove all the hobbits out of tolkins books because there refering to small people
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by johnnie2655 March 21, 2011 10:52 AM EDT
The Black guy with the santa claus beard should be shot. He was so stupid to be so smart.I'm Black and I think he was dead wrong.
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by lasvegasteacher March 21, 2011 10:42 AM EDT
Bravo Byron Pitts, we need to have this discussion continued.
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by cburger1313 March 21, 2011 8:56 AM EDT
David Bradley contradicts himself when he says that only people that are included in the meaning of the offensive word may use the offensive word and says that the book is "one of the greatest books in American literature." I thought Mark Twain was white.
How are white people to read and discuss the book if they cannot use the offensive word?
One time David Bradley says that he likes the word and it is great and then he says that only his race can use it. That is racist.
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by thrush6 March 21, 2011 3:19 AM EDT
Good grief. I guess it really must be impossible to show DW Griffith's "Birth of a Nation" to college film history classes. Before long it may even be impossible to show Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" to film students.
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