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Iconic Canadian writer Lawrence Hill says a London District Catholic school board ban on teaching his and other Black writers’ books containing the N-word will essentially erase their work from the classroom curriculum.
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Hill – the author of 11 books, including the Book of Negroes – first expressed his thoughts in an op-ed in The Globe and Mail after being contacted by Heather Hamilton, an English teacher in the local Catholic board. Though he accepts the move is “from a place of good intention,” Hill said he’s concerned over the unintended consequences.
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“I understand from my own lived experience how hostile and painful (the word is) and I understand that it accompanies atrocities against Black people,” Hill said in an interview with The Free Press. “It’s not just a word – it accompanies rape, murder and other forms of violence.
“It’s insulting to many Black people today – but it is also a word that abounds in Black culture today” in music, on television and in books, he said. The N-word appears 23 times in the Book of Negroes, he said.
“Black writers . . . go to this word because it is part of our lived experience,” Hill said. “We try to write authentically with real language and oppose, in our art, racial injustice.”
If school boards refuse to teach those books, he said, “it means that the student can’t read most major Black writers.
“It means Black writers will be barred from the classroom,” Hill said. “While it might be considered to be a move that aims to protect kids from harm, it actually does some harm because it protects them from things that need to be discussed in a civilized and respectful way in the classroom.”
Hill said Hamilton, who declined to comment to The Free Press, told him other teachers in London’s Catholic board had been instructed to stop teaching The Book of Negroes because it contained the n-word.
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Mark Adkinson, a spokesperson for the London District Catholic board, said the board is neither “banning or censoring books” in its classrooms.
“However, we take an informed approach that certain books containing triggering language and content should not be required or mandatory reading for assessment in our schools,” he said. “We must be mindful of the diverse sensitivities and experiences of our students.”
Hill argues school boards don’t prevent students from reading about the Holocaust, violence against women or the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War.
“We don’t shy away from those books because they raise painful issues,” he said. “Although it’s well-intentioned, it is a move that attempts to ban literature and underestimates students and prevents them from learning about racism and how to navigate in the world where this word abounds.”
Trustee Gabe Pizzuti, chair of the London District Catholic board, said the board will “always prioritize listening to our students and families and putting their voices at the heart of our decision-making without compromising learning outcomes.”
@HeatheratLFP
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