"When Will We Learn?"

A few days ago as I was getting my daily dose of online news, I saw a story featured in the Detroit Free Press talking about a fellow Spartan athlete. The story was titled, "Michigan State Suspends Korie Lucious for Season." Now, I'm not exactly an expert on sports, but this story seemed to affect me in a way that I couldn't help but ponder on it for several minutes.

Now, upon reading the story, my immediate thought was, "Gee, I wonder what he did this time." I'm not one to point fingers at anyone or judge anyone on this earth for anything. But one thing that I do blame is the message that society sends our young athletes that says that they are above the law. We've seen it happen far too many times in today's time. The message says that as long as you have an upper hand in society or an elite type of status, then you are excused from abiding by the rules and the laws of society, and that you can pretty much get away with anything as long as you have money. We saw it in the O.J. Simpson case, the Kobe Bryant Case, and in other cases that involve black athletes. Now, we see it in our college student athletes.

The article never stated the true reason behind why Mr. Lucious was suspended from the team; but anyone can infer from the reading that it was not anything to be proud of. The article went on to mention other misdemeanors that the athlete had participated in before his suspension. Why did he do it? Is he penitent of his mistakes? Does he see the lesson behind his faults? Only he knows. But what have we as society decided to do as a people when we see our own fall prey to the blind messages that society sends to our young men and women? Do we simply turn the other cheek and say, "Oh well"? Or do we try to make things better for the next generation?

From what I can see in my own generation, this message isn't simply one that has developed like a 24-hour flu virus. It has been something that has been embedded into our thoughts and has been "preached" about in a way that allows its victims to think that this type of mindset is merely second nature. When is enough enough? When will we as a people stand up for what is right and true? When will we as a people stop just sitting back and letting society take the wheel and drive our future generations into a life of destruction and chaos? Who knows? The answer only lies within each of us. Only we can decide when enough is enough. If we don't come together sooner or later and send out a more positive message to our upcoming men and women, then we have not only failed them, but we have failed ourselves. We need to stop being so selfish and all about ourselves and reach out and speak to our fellow brothers and sisters and let them know when they are doing something wrong. Of course hindsight is 20/20 vision; but why not help guide one another sometimes? At least then we not only help develop character, but we just might save a generation one individual at a time.

"A 'N'ecessary Change to a Classic"

The Mark Twain novel has been an international classic for decades. It has been read by millions both in the classroom and around the world. Yet now, the epic classic has undergone a change in its contents, without the author himself alive to say "yay" or "nay" to the revisions.

The New York Times reported that Alan Gribben, an Auburn University at Montgomery English Professor, proposed the idea of substituting the "N" word in the Twain novel for the word "slave." The word, "nigger" is repeated in the novel a total of 219 times, and could possibly be a reason why today's generation of students are reluctant to read the novel.

NewSouth Books is the publisher of the novel, and has been widely criticized for altering the novel in any way.

Now as a 22-year-old black college student pursuing a career in Journalism, I can understand the arguments of both sides. No more than a year ago, there was a national discussion regarding the death of the "N' word. Did such a ceremony stick? Well, no it didn't. We still continue to hear younger generations using the word as a term of endearment and even as a filler word equivalent to the phrases, "you know" and "oh yeah". To this day, the word is tossed around in casual conversations, song lyrics, and urban novels. But it is nonetheless a word that is still frowned upon by earlier generations both in and outside of the black community.

On the journalism side of the issue, the act of revising a classic novel or any published piece does bring about the possibility of taking away the author's rights and/or the authenticity of the piece. In the case of Mark Twain, he obviously has no say in the revisions of his own work. So the question remains, does changing the word "nigger" to "slave" alter the authenticity of the classic novel?

In reality no one really knows the answer. As a student, I feel that students will be less reluctant to read the novel and grasp the lesson behind the novel if they don't have to be self-conscious of coming across the word if asked to read out loud. Although the word in it's urban vernacular is more acceptable amongst today's urban youth, it is still a word that is frowned upon, generally by the generations that were around when the word was one of offense.

At the end of the day, the morals and lessons behind the novel are not what is being altered; it is merely a word that to this day, may cause students to be more reluctant to focus on the novel's meaning if said in classroom discussions and readings.