New Jersey School District Pulls Book Off Black History Month Reading List Because It Contains a Racial Slur

The school board in Absecon, New Jersey, has removed a book from its Black History Month reading list because it contains the word “nigger.” The book, The Well, is the story of a black family in Mississippi in the early twentieth century. The family has the only working well in the small town and they share the water with neighbors. One neighboring family is white, and in the book’s dialogue this white family refers to blacks as niggers.

The book was on a reading list for fourth-grade students. Many parents believe that white students at this age would not comprehend the offensiveness of the term and would use it to tease or insult their black classmates.

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