To Censor or Not to Censor: Does Racist Language Have a Place in Children's Books?

A huge row recently erupted in Germany over racist language in a children's book. I won't take too much time to recap the situation here (you can follow the link), suffice to say it began when a German father wrote to the publisher of Die Kleine Hexe, a classic German children's book, about how he could not continue reading the story to his seven-year old daughter after encountering the word "neger" (from what I gather, it is the German equivalent of both the word "negro" and the "n-word," now considered offensive). He requested the publisher revise the text. The publisher, after reviewing the book, said they would edit future printings—and all hell broke loose.

This conversation is one in which I am well-versed. I have debated with fellow children's literature scholars and enthusiasts about whether antiquated racist language should be purged from children's books. The arguments I hear most often in favor of keeping the racist language (and that has been cited in this most recent resurgence of the debate) is that by removing racial slurs from texts we are rewriting the past, denying history, and even that we are "whitewashing" the literature in question (though clearly this definition of whitewashing must be very different than the one discussed in a previous post). While I understand where those who hold these beliefs are coming from, I always come back to the question, "Yes, but what about the reader?"