Washington Teacher Fired for Reading 'To Kill a Mockingbird'

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If you went to high school in the United States, chances are you’ve read Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird — a literary classic taught in classrooms for decades. But in recent years, it’s been labeled “racist” for its use of the n-word and banned in school districts across the country.

On June 25, the West Valley School Board in Washington voted unanimously to fire high school Spanish teacher Matthew Mastronardi — for reading a line from that very book, according to KHQ.

During a class discussion, Mastronardi disagreed when students said their English teacher made them skip over the n-word in the novel. A student challenged him to read the line aloud, so he did. What didn’t he know? He was being secretly recorded. 

That clip was later used to get him fired:

Let that sink in: a teacher was fired for reading a line from a school-approved novel — not for hate speech, not for using the word out of context — but simply for reading the text as written.

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The school board didn’t budge, even after thousands signed a petition (“Reinstate Mr. Mastronardi at West Valley High School”) and students created an Instagram fan page in his support.

In an interview with Blaze Media, Mastronardi explained he was teaching students to understand context — that intent is what makes language harmful, not simply reading a word from literature. He made it clear in class that using the n-word to insult someone is never acceptable. But of course, that part didn’t make it into the video — or the headlines.

If reading a Pulitzer Prize–winning novel aloud can cost you your job, this isn’t just censorship — George Orwell’s 1984 feels less like fiction and more like reality.

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