A mockery of ‘Mockingbird’

It’s the time of year when leaves change, football is played and high schools across the state put on theatrical productions, most of which will go off without a hitch.

Shorewood High School should have been no different, but things changed quickly, then changed again, then again, only to change one more time, leaving both patrons and performers scratching their heads and wondering what exactly was going on.

By all accounts, the drama department was prepared to put on performances of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” one of the most celebrated and important works of American literature in the 20th century. And then someone decided that since the book realistically uses the N-word, that the play needed to be canceled.

In the book there is the line, “It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird,” and I think that this quote fits this unfortunate situation. The students in the drama department did nothing wrong, and yet they have been dragged into the news and torn back and forth between performing and not performing. The parents and friends who wanted to come and see the play and their children perform did nothing wrong and yet, they, too, have been dragged around.

It’s been said that this play has been canceled in the name of preventing confusion about race and sensitivity to it and, yet, what is the end result? More importantly, where does it end? Do we cancel Shakespeare plays because he may or may not have borrowed some lines or themes and therefore, performing it would be a sign of supporting plagiarism?

Do we cancel “The Crucible” because it mentions witches and outside of Halloween, witches are bad?

Do we cancel “Alice in Wonderland” for wild themes and brief violence which came after sipping suspicious tea and taking pills?

And what lesson are we teaching students? What do we want them to learn? That it’s OK to complain if you don’t like something and to ruin things for others, because your feelings and your feelings alone, are what matter?

Brian Brehmer

Milwaukee