Should the word "Neger" be cut from German texts?

This is the silly season in Germany, where entire talkshows are devoted to the inappropriate suggestive comments of a middle-age politician to a young female reporter, or to whether the word Neger is racist and should be removed from any children's books. (The word "Neger" can be translated as the anachronistic "Negro" or the perjorative "Nigger".)  In a way, I am jealous that such innocuous topics can dominate public discourse. Here in America we are grappling with an epidemic of gun violence (240 shooting incidents just yesterday). 

The Neger controversy was started by German Family MInister Kristina Schröder: 

When Pippi Longstocking's father is referred to as "Negro-King" or Jim Button is called "Negro-Baby" (in the 1960 children's novel by Michael Ende) Schröder intends to "replace them on the spot while I'm reading, in order to protect my child from taking on such expressions," she told Die Zeit weekly.

"Even without bad intentions, words can cause damage," she said. "When a child is older, I would explain what kind of history the word Neger has, and how hurtful it is to use that word."

Depending on how it is used, the German word Neger can mean anything from the outdated and inappropriate term "negro" to the seriously offensive "nigger" in English.

This is not the first time that Kristina Schröder raised eyebrows with her politically correct approach to the German language.  Several months ago she confessed that when speaking with her daughter she referred to God as "das Gott" - using the neuter gender definitive article instead of the grammatically correct masculine "der Gott."

Should we change texts to conform to modern sensibilities?  Call me a purist, but I don't believe we should  - especially with a classic such as Pippi Longstocking.  Even when reading to children, we can use the language to talk about the work in its historical context and how attitudes have changed.

Every few years a the same controversy flares up regarding an American classic - Huckleberry Finn -  and Mark Twain's character "Nigger Jim".  Fortunately, most teachers have resisted the effort to "sanitize" this wonderful novel.  And last week I went to see Quentin Tarantino's new movie Django Unchained where the "N-Word" is used at least a hundred times.  Nobody in audience complained - maybe because the main figure Django turns the table on the slaveholders.

But I'm willing to admit that as a white male perhaps I'm missing something here.  Spiegel reporter Dialika Neufeld, whose father is Senegalese, has a much different take on the issue: 

"Is it acceptable to alter the original version of a text?

I say yes, when the texts in question are children's books that serve to perpetuate racist stereotypes. These books are not only read aloud to children, they are also read by children themselves, without anyone there to help them make sense of what they read. And the things children pick up from their reading, they bring with them into the classroom -- classrooms where their fellow students might have parents who come from Ghana or Pakistan. One in five children born in Germany today has some kind of immigrant background.

The worst thing for me as a child was being ostracized and insulted because of the color of my skin. And it wasn't just about language. This was the 1990s, when neo-Nazis set homes for asylum-seekers on fire and black people were chased through the streets by right-wing thugs. "nigger," for me, was neo-Nazi language."

Comments

[Hattie]

I just picked up the phrase "schlechtes Gewissen" from your sidebar.
Many in this country and in Germany long for a return to the good old days of whole-hearted racism and cultural chauvanism, openly expressed and guilt free, but times have changed.
We all need to watch what we say and really work on examining and overcoming our prejudices. I struggle with this every day. I shock myself, sometimes, with my negative reactions to difference, but I know I am in the wrong.

[koogleschreiber]

I'm cross-posting my comment from fellow German blogger che2001, whose postings are always worth a read:

Die Bundeswehr wird künftig vor allem in Afrika 'unsere Freiheit verteidigen'. Noch äußert sich die Bundesregierung zurückhaltend, was Mali angeht - und läßt derweil die Medien und deren Kommentatoren vorpreschen. Witzeleien über Westerwelles Initiativen wechseln sich ab mit Horrorgemälden der Al Qaeda und jenen Flüchtlingsströmen, die Europa drohen, sollten die afrikanischen Hot Spots nicht befriedet werden. Man wird uns zunehmend mit Bildern von barbarischen Akten und rückständigen Zivilisationen überfluten. (Barbarei ist übrigens auch so ein Wort, wenn man es richtig bedenkt.) Die Stammtische werden es zu kommentieren wissen, derweil unsere Bildungspolitik es darauf anzulegen scheint, eine neue Generation 'hervorragendes Soldatenmaterial' heranzuzüchten. Unterm Strich geht es z.Z. natürlich darum, Frankreichs Uranminen in Afrika vor unerwünschtem Zugriff zu schützen. Ferner vielleicht auch um den Erhalt unserer Giftmülldeponien in Nigeria.

Inzwischen baut und bauscht die Presse Widersprüchlichkeiten in unserem Verhältnis zu Afrikanern auf. Man muß schon um die Ecke denken, um zu erkennen, wie heikel und fragwürdig es ist, auf diesen Zug aufzuspringen, um mitzudiskutieren.

http://che2001.blogger.de/stories/2194639/#comments

[James]

To answer your question: No.

[german translation service]

I think children's literature should be changed.There should be dual versions, one for adults with the original language and one for children.

[D.H. Wallace]

I'm a children's book author and illustrator who's most recent picture book has just hit problems with 'political correctness', despite what I see as a perfectly valid stance on this issue, which is:

While I do not agree that offensive words should be wiped from history, I think that there’s a strong argument to confine them to history. From my point of view, it’s appropriate to update children’s books/content to avoid future generations from learning offensive terminology and mindsets that have no place in a modern child’s head.

Surely the history class is the place for outdated language, not children’s entertainment?