Parents in Williamson County, Tennessee, have been asked to sign an anonymous petition demanding that the classic To Kill a Mockingbird be removed.

The petition cites profanity in the novel as a reason to can it, as well as its “adult themes such as sexual intercourse, rape, [and] incest.” It also suggests that the book could encourage “racial hatred, racial division, [and] racial separation” and that it “promotes white supremacy.”

Now, I admit that I haven’t read a whole lot of Southern writers. But I have read To Kill a Mockingbird. And while I agree that it has a lot of mature themes in the book, it’s hardly something that a middle schooler is unaware of. And the main character is a child. The book is written from a child’s point of view.

And if whoever wrote the petition feels that this book encourages white supremacy, when the whole crux of the story focuses on a travesty of justice perpetrated against an African American man by a white police and justice system simply because of his race, then they have a severely warped sense of what white supremacy constitutes.

Heaven forbid we ask our children to think about big issues. They already think about big issues. They just don’t necessarily share them with adults.

And shame on the Board of Education if they even consider a ban.

Via Bookslut.