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November 15, 2009

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Parent: Mojave High School textbook is racist

Friday, Oct. 26, 2001 | 9:43 a.m.

West Las Vegas community activist Dell Ray Rhodes Thursday objected to a Clark County School District literature textbook that she says promotes racism.

Rhodes said her son's 10th grade honors English class at Mojave High School is using a book that includes the story "Kaffir Boy," by Mark Mathabane. The story is an autobiography of Mathabane's experiences of growing up under apatheid in South Africa.

The term kaffir, Rhodes said, translates into a racial slur in another language.

"Now I know why the district doesn't want African-American kids in the honors program," she said. "Aside from my son, there are two other African-Americans in the class."

She added that the book does not contain anything positive about blacks and has sexually explicit passages.

Rhodes said that although she is not in favor of banning books, she believes the district could come up with a better choice.

"I think they're using this because someone in the district knows what this word means," she said.

School board members did not comment on the complaint.

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