If Mark Twain Were Alive Today.

I clearly remember that one of my favorite books I read in high school, for several reasons, was Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. To me, it is the perfect book; the characters are vibrant, it calls the establishment on the carpet and still, to this day, it is way ahead of its time. In fact, the book does its job so well at making people think that it, amongst many others, has been banned from several libraries and school curriculums and districts. In fact, in my senior year, the book was banned in Portland, Oregon, a city not too far away, on the count of liberal use of the "N" word and lack of sensitivity in covering sensitive racial issues.

Besides still being way ahead of its time, the message behind the book is still relevant today. The sad part is, though, that while the message is a good one, it would be that of the extreme minority. Therefore, the majority would do everything in their power, be it with money, intimidation, or brute force to silence this opposing voice. After all, racism is still alive and well with groups such as the Aryan Nations, Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis and the Southern Baptist Church (at least Fred Phelps' camp) boasting members in the thousands. However, hate of other kinds have cropped up in this day and age against other groups that have appeared within our society (or at least have barely become visible) since Twain wrote Huckleberry Finn in the 1800s over a course of a nine-year period. And thus, this idea got me thinking; if Twain was alive and writing in our generation, what would he have to say about what was going on?