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African-Canadian poet George Elliott Clarke said texts taught to students about racism should have main characters of colour because that validates and centralizes their experiences of oppression.

“To Kill A Mockingbird” was written by a white woman and published in 1960. It explores racial inequality in a small Alabama town through the trial of a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman as told from the perspective of his white lawyer’s family.

“I’m glad that (the school board) is looking beyond a white American text, with white characters as the heroes, to consider other kinds of texts, with people of colour as the heroes, to teach anti-racism,” Clarke wrote in an email.

Poleen Grewal, the school board’s associate director of instructional and equity support services, sent the memo and said the novel will be taught to explore the impact of how racism is portrayed by a white author and how that leaves out the perspectives of those who have actually experienced racism.

She said while all texts should be looked at critically, she believes “To Kill a Mockingbird” requires deeper analysis.

“It would be de-constructing the use of the n-word, talking about how the story is portrayed written by a white author and a white narrator,” said Grewal. “We could be comparing it with another book that it similar, but is written from the perspective of a black author.”

Grewal said the school board has been including texts in the English curriculum from black authors so students can learn from a “realistic” and authentic experiences. She said the debate around “To Kill a Mockingbird” had been brought up last school from that initiative.