CINCINNANTI (TDB) -- School officials in a suburban Cincinnati district have decided the largest selling mystery story in the world, Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians cannot be performed as a class play. They censored it after a local NAACP chapter officer said the book was originally published in England 68 years ago under a now abandoned racist title, Ten Little N******s. The book sometimes is called, And Then There Were None, which is a line from the children' nursery rhyme that is at the heart of the mystery story.
The Enquirer's Michael D. Clark has the latest twist in the tale:
"Jon Weidlich, spokesman for the Butler County school district, said subsequent discussions -- after district officials met with (NAACP chief Gary) Hines earlier this month -- among students and staff at Lakota East High School led to the decision to cancel the play.
"'After learning of the play's origins and the hurt that it caused, we had hoped to use the performance as a way to create a discussion about diversity of all kinds in our community. However, students and staff continued to raise issues, and it was quickly obvious that bad feelings about the play were much more widespread than originally thought. The best action seemed to be to switch to a different play.'"
Apparently, Lakota officials have never heard of banned books week. Maybe they should look into the event.
Wikipedia has great background about Dame Agatha and her island-set mystery, a story which is considered a classic around the globe. It has been made into movies, performed on stages far and near, and is still read in schools as an example of brilliant writing and plot development. But apparently it is too hot for Butler County.
The Enquirer's Michael D. Clark has the latest twist in the tale:
"Jon Weidlich, spokesman for the Butler County school district, said subsequent discussions -- after district officials met with (NAACP chief Gary) Hines earlier this month -- among students and staff at Lakota East High School led to the decision to cancel the play.
"'After learning of the play's origins and the hurt that it caused, we had hoped to use the performance as a way to create a discussion about diversity of all kinds in our community. However, students and staff continued to raise issues, and it was quickly obvious that bad feelings about the play were much more widespread than originally thought. The best action seemed to be to switch to a different play.'"
Apparently, Lakota officials have never heard of banned books week. Maybe they should look into the event.
Wikipedia has great background about Dame Agatha and her island-set mystery, a story which is considered a classic around the globe. It has been made into movies, performed on stages far and near, and is still read in schools as an example of brilliant writing and plot development. But apparently it is too hot for Butler County.
