"Is Huckleberry Finn a racist book?"/ "This book is racist"

[elibats]

To me, the moment in the story that reveals that it is beyond a shadow of a doubt a satire is when Tom's aunt asks Huck if anyone was hurt in the boat accident and he says, "No'm. Killed a nigger," to which she replies, "That's good, because sometimes people do get hurt."

[motherhubbard]

I've been reading this to my kids and I find that I have to change the wording a lot. I think it's a picture of how things were, but not all of it is something I want my younger kids to know just yet.

[jekan blazer]

i dont think it is racist...it was written during the time of slavery, and set in that same timeframe...so in order to be told properly, it needs the proper wording... therefore... not racist...

[blp]

I never thought about it really!

Ha ha ha ha!

This is an amazingly long thread, considering virtually everyone posting in it is in agreement.

[meow22]

I am doing a project for english class about this book and need a few reasons to why it would be considerd "racist". personally i do not see this book as racist, but for the purpose of the project i need to come up with a few and i'm having a hard time doing so.. many thanks

[AuntShecky]

The question of alleging racism in various classics was one of the issues which inspired a thread from about a year and a half ago. It's really not "racism" or "political correctness" that angers folks, but something else entirely. Take a look, if you're so inclined:

"Railing at Greatness": Why Critics, Educators, and Readers are so Touchy These Days