'Proud black' mother slams school for forcing son, 14, to read literary classic To Kill A Mockingbird with teachers ignoring his plea to stop using 'n-word'

That novel is a famous ANTI-racist story

A black mother has hit out at her son's school after teachers allegedly refused to stop saying 'n****r' while reading 'To Kill A Mockingbird' in class.

The parent, who describes herself as a 'proud black woman', claims teachers are ignoring her 14-year-old son's pleas not to read the racial slur in lessons.

She said her son finds the word 'offensive' and 'upsetting', and she has been racially abused with it in the past year where she lives in Tuffley, Gloucestershire.

The mother said: 'My son is of colour and he has been upset by it. It is a word which is offensive to black people and in 2019 we should not be using that word. 'He has had to tell the teachers not to say it because he finds it offensive but the teachers keep saying it.'

The mother, whose son is a pupil at Holmleigh Park High School in Tuffley, added: 'The book has a negative depiction of black people.

'I'm worried it might have an impact and normalise that word for the children. I don't believe it should be being read without explanation. 'The word, the book makes him feel uncomfortable. There were two other pupils in the class of colour and when they heard the word they just looked at each other in shock.

'I feel that this will have a negative impact. It is not sensitive to the children that are of colour and have to sit there and take that word in.'

The book is currently being studied during 25-minute long daily reading time sessions at Holmleigh Park, a former academy which is undergoing changes.

The new leadership team has already insisted pupils uphold strict new uniform rules and sent dozens of them home or into detention within days of its official rebrand.

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