Huck Finn edit 'grand insult' to blacksFor the first time, members of both political parties Jan. 6 read the U.S. Constitution on the House floor. But sensitive clauses, like the ones related to slavery, were omitted. And a new edition of Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is being published using the word "slave" in place of the N-word. Revisionist history? Political correctness gone too far? Culture critic Michaela Angela Davis, former editor at Essence magazine, and noted linguist John McWhorter weigh in. Also, here is a link to the list of universal traits of humanity by anthropologist Donald E. Brown, as mentioned by Mr. McWhorter during the interview, from the book "Human Universals." |
  @inthearena on Twitter Last night was our final show. Thanks so much for your support. What will you miss most about the show? #cnn inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/04/mar…
Columnist Laura Washington and @nprscottsimon revealed their 50th birthday wishes for President @BarackObama. #cnn inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/05/50t…
#Debt commission co-chair Alan Simpson slams the "disappointing" debt deal, saying Washington is "dysfunctional." #cnn inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/04/deb…
Ben Stein says we may very well be headed towards a double-dip recession, but "things are not that terrible." #cnn inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/04/ste…
Our last show is 2nite, please join us at 8pm ET. One of our favorites was @FareedZakaria, who was on last night! #cnn inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/03/zak…
 |
© 2011 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertising practices | Advertise with us | About us | Contact us | Work for us | Help
Your discussion concerning revisiionism was one of the most interesting debates I have seen on T.V. in a long time.. Your panellists wre expressive, respectful and contributed to the topic rather than yelling at each other. I have become a big fan of Perker Spitzer. Keep up the good work!
Removing or revising original literature is simply shirking the responsibility to explain history to the next generation. Without understanding of our past, our misunderstandings of others, we will always repeat or just find a new way to distance ourselves from what we don't understand. Lazy is easy. Teaching takes time but is a short cut to understanding . Thank you
Parker's comment addressing the professors' rationale of an edited Huck Finn edition were not addressed by the commentators. If Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer have all but been droppped from US public schools study - then how can our students, teachers and – yes the student's parents enagage in thoughtful discussions about race? While our nation tries to be "post race," sadly we are stillnot there. I appreciate the professors efforts to raise this important issue for thoughtful discussion. Perhaps this is the very subject we need to have.
It's cool what the lady said about 3rd grade – keep things age appropriate. Common sense seems to dictate the tone of your show and your interesting guests.
I have heard the topic of Twain's "Huck Finn" being edited to eliminate the "N" word discussed perviously. I think the concept is absurd. I am writing to say that I was very impressed with the panelists Michaela Angela Davis and John Mc Whorter. They were both so very articulate! I think Michaela Angela Davis should replace Anderson Cooper in his time slot on CNN when he departs. I was so very impressed with her ability to comfortably discuss the topic. I suspect she could discuss any topic intelligently. She is fantastic! (I am very sad that Anderson Cooper is leaving.)
Great discussion! Ms. Davis and Professor McWorter were great guest choices. I record your shows so as not to miss any. You choose wonderful "out-of-box" guests as well as the ones we do hear from on other shows. You have interesting discussions some of which are way too short. When you just get to the meat of the discussion with a great guest and time is up...very frustrating. I would like to see more one-on-one "Kathleen and inspirational women" interviews. I can't get enough of Mr. Spitzer's dig/diplomatic interview and discussion style. Thank you, thank you! Happy New Year to you and your staff!
Interesting debate, but what is up with Ms Davis' 80s glasses? Every time her face was shown all I could do was stare at those ridiculous glasses.
Very good show on bowdlerizing history. It is not new, of course. To really get an eyeful try"Imperial Cruise" by James Bradley about Theodore Roosevelt's racial opinions and how they helped his imperial drive westward. Nothing like we ever heard about TR !
Great Topic... Need to have more discourse on Race to open up the closed minds in America... This way people of all colors will have a better understanding of each others culture...
This was a wonderful conversation, and left me wanting more... please continue to challenge ALL of us to think by presenting diverse ideas and thoughts in a respectful format.
That being said, I found it interesting that you seemed to advocate for the educational and social value of leaving the "N-word" in Huck Finn, but yet all speakers would not actually say the word on television. I understand that perhaps we, as a society, are not yet ready to hear that word used, but I look forward to the day when Ms. Davis' statement comes true, that the INTENT of this word is considered more than the word itself. We should not fear a word – that is distracting. We should fear the thoughts and feelings of hate that are behind those that hurl it at others, but are not there in a reading of Huck Finn...
I am black woman and mother of a 12 year old girl and as such I adamantly disagree with Ms. Davis. Huck Finn is typically reading material for children in grades 6-8, which means they are about 11-13 years old. It is not developmentally reasonable for children at those ages to process 219 times of the N word and I certainly don't want my child to have to endure hearing or reading the word over and over and over and over again. I am all for an edited version of Huck Finn for CHILDREN, and make the original text available for more mature readers.
I think Ms. Davis is always at the forefront of controversary or I should say, created controversary. She is much too eager to create black/white issues when there are none. Frankly I'm disappointed in CNN for choosing her, someone with questionable credentials, to speak on the topic. Are there no black historians, black history professors, scholars CNN could have contacted?? I will say she sounded more articulate than normal, but with thousands of Facebook friends feeding her material, ideas... but still not up to par for CNN.