CDZ Laura Ingalls Wilder's name removed from book award over racism charges

[Picaro]

Never read any of her books, but if she told the truth about 'native Americans' then her banning is wrong; they were vile, nasty, and violent murderers throughout their history, and got treated far better by whites than they would have received if the shoe had been on the other foot. Any other peoples, especially blacks and latinos and other natives as well would have just wiped them completely out, not given them reservations and subsidies.

It's the nature of Christian influenced cultures that all people can be 'saved' and they have a positive outlook; a lot of times they're wrong, with deadly results, but that's the way it is. No such empathy exists in the vast majority of other 'cultures'.

 

[Toronado3800]

I agree. As a child I read a lot of Jack Londons books and as an adult I found out he was another dyed in the wool racist. People like that should not be celebrated. If an author of a book is allowed to spread their poison it just creates more racist attitudes. At the end of the day she did nothing we will miss. Other authors will and have come forward to take her place. At the end of the day her legacy doesnt justify any celebration because of the immeasurable harm her and other racists attitude have done.

I'll split it. We can't throw away every piece of Roman era writing because them ppl were nuts.

We do need to give context though. This is a big question for me, judging people by their time or by our standards.

 

[Slyhunter]

I agree. As a child I read a lot of Jack Londons books and as an adult I found out he was another dyed in the wool racist. People like that should not be celebrated. If an author of a book is allowed to spread their poison it just creates more racist attitudes. At the end of the day she did nothing we will miss. Other authors will and have come forward to take her place. At the end of the day her legacy doesnt justify any celebration because of the immeasurable harm her and other racists attitude have done.

I'll split it. We can't throw away every piece of Roman era writing because them ppl were nuts.

We do need to give context though. This is a big question for me, judging people by their time or by our standards.

They owned slaves destroy it.

 

[Asclepias]

I agree. As a child I read a lot of Jack Londons books and as an adult I found out he was another dyed in the wool racist. People like that should not be celebrated. If an author of a book is allowed to spread their poison it just creates more racist attitudes. At the end of the day she did nothing we will miss. Other authors will and have come forward to take her place. At the end of the day her legacy doesnt justify any celebration because of the immeasurable harm her and other racists attitude have done.

I'll split it. We can't throw away every piece of Roman era writing because them ppl were nuts.

We do need to give context though. This is a big question for me, judging people by their time or by our standards.

Do you think at anytime these types of attitudes are to be celebrated? To me its like saying it was ok to beat your wife back then because it was a different time.

 

[AZGAL]

Laura Ingalls Wilder was not a racist. She was a great writer and historian that truthfully portrayed the attitudes and events of adults through the eyes of an innocent child.

 

[Picaro]

I agree. As a child I read a lot of Jack Londons books and as an adult I found out he was another dyed in the wool racist. People like that should not be celebrated. If an author of a book is allowed to spread their poison it just creates more racist attitudes. At the end of the day she did nothing we will miss. Other authors will and have come forward to take her place. At the end of the day her legacy doesnt justify any celebration because of the immeasurable harm her and other racists attitude have done.

I'll split it. We can't throw away every piece of Roman era writing because them ppl were nuts.

We do need to give context though. This is a big question for me, judging people by their time or by our standards.

Do you think at anytime these types of attitudes are to be celebrated? To me its like saying it was ok to beat your wife back then because it was a different time.

lol as if you would be 'all different n stuff' if you had been born and raised 'back then'. We all know better.

 

[Picaro]

I agree. As a child I read a lot of Jack Londons books and as an adult I found out he was another dyed in the wool racist. People like that should not be celebrated. If an author of a book is allowed to spread their poison it just creates more racist attitudes. At the end of the day she did nothing we will miss. Other authors will and have come forward to take her place. At the end of the day her legacy doesnt justify any celebration because of the immeasurable harm her and other racists attitude have done.

I'll split it. We can't throw away every piece of Roman era writing because them ppl were nuts.

We do need to give context though. This is a big question for me, judging people by their time or by our standards.

They owned slaves destroy it.

Indeed. We should destroy Africa if the dummies want to use their usual 'logic'. It's worth noting those freed slaves who left the U.S. to return to Africa immediately set themselves up as yes, drum roll please, slave plantation owners.

So much for freeing black people, they're mostly helpless.

 

[ricechickie]

She wrote books that reflected her time. It’s ok to discuss the morals and views of her time, compared to our time, but I don’t remember anything overtly hateful in her books.

Discuss and debate, don’t censor.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Little goose-stepping book burners at ALA might want to read Farenheit 451

 

[Marion Morrison]

My favorite story was the Christmas where pa went miles into town to get Christmas presents and candy...fell into a hole covered with snow...on the way back home. Missing for three days. Sure...dad went to town and got smashed and nobody saw him for three days. Said he had to eat all the Christmas candy he had bought to stay alive. Lol.

3 days of hookers n blow.

 

[Asclepias]

Laura Ingalls Wilder was not a racist. She was a great writer and historian that truthfully portrayed the attitudes and events of adults through the eyes of an innocent child.

How do you know she was not a racist? The accumulation of proof shows otherwise. Unless youre claiming she wrote the books as a child and had no idea what context the words "wild animals" was being used she is obviously at the very least a casual racist and at worst a blatant racist.

 

[AZGAL]

I grew up reading and watching Little House. She is not a racist.

 

[Asclepias]

I grew up reading and watching Little House. She is not a racist.

What would you call someone that referred to a specific ethnic group as "wild animals" or "darkies"?

 

[AZGAL]

LIKE I SAID: Laura Ingalls Wilder was a gifted writer and historian who described the culture she witnessed as a child...So Pa’s a… black clown? and shrugged, because I just didn’t get it. But it’s that adult knowledge —understanding what the painted-face “darky ” represents in our culture—that really puts the uh-oh in The Uh-Oh Page. Little Laura observed a culture not at ease with natives or blacks and it was the ADULTS she described who feared Natives and performed minstrel shows. It was not Laura.

 

[Asclepias]

LIKE I SAID: Laura Ingalls Wilder was a gifted writer and historian who described the culture she witnessed as a child...So Pa’s a… black clown? and shrugged, because I just didn’t get it. But it’s that adult knowledge —understanding what the painted-face “darky ” represents in our culture—that really puts the uh-oh in The Uh-Oh Page. Little Laura observed a culture not at ease with natives or blacks and it was the ADULTS she described who feared Natives and performed minstrel shows. It was not Laura.

Being a gifted writer doesnt excuse her racist depictions of Blacks and Native Americans to me. Hell Hitler was a gifted leader but I dont celebrate him. I think the issue is that white people have the luxury of excusing any racist behavior because it does not directly affect them. The idea that this gifted writer could be a racist (much like Jack London) is hard to take.

 

[AZGAL]

Honest writers honestly depict what they observe, That is what makes writing so interesting and educational.

 

[Asclepias]

Honest writers honestly depict what they observe, That is what makes writing so interesting and educational.

Thats true.

 

[AZGAL]

It is also known in literature circles that Laura Ingalls Wilder really wanted her books to be even more gritty realism and more adult but her famous daughter also a writer cleaned the stories up to sell to a commercial audience including families.

Humanities • Back Issues • July/August 2014
Feature
Reading Laura Ingalls Wilder Is Not the Same When You’re a Parent.

By Amy Lifson | HUMANITIES, July/August 2014 | Volume 35, Number 4

...Wilder took her stoicism and plain speech from her parents’ example. In Little House on the Prairie, the entire family contracted malaria, and most likely would have died if not for the help of a black doctor who had been assisting the local Indians. As they slowly recovered, Pa proclaims, “It’s an ill wind that doesn’t blow some good."...

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Laura Ingalls Wilder was not a racist. She was a great writer and historian that truthfully portrayed the attitudes and events of adults through the eyes of an innocent child.

How do you know she was not a racist? The accumulation of proof shows otherwise. Unless youre claiming she wrote the books as a child and had no idea what context the words "wild animals" was being used she is obviously at the very least a casual racist and at worst a blatant racist.

FDR was a racist

So was LBJ

 

[Asclepias]

Laura Ingalls Wilder was not a racist. She was a great writer and historian that truthfully portrayed the attitudes and events of adults through the eyes of an innocent child.

How do you know she was not a racist? The accumulation of proof shows otherwise. Unless youre claiming she wrote the books as a child and had no idea what context the words "wild animals" was being used she is obviously at the very least a casual racist and at worst a blatant racist.

FDR was a racist

So was LBJ

Whats your point? So what they were racists? I dont celebrate them either.