Breaking up with your favorite racist childhood classic books - The Washington Post

Breaking up with your favorite racist childhood classic books - The Washington Post

Breaking up with your favorite racist childhood classic books

Philip Nel is the author of “Was the Cat in the Hat Black?: The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature and the Need for Diverse Books,” a 2017 book that helped launch a conversation about racism in children’s books that led to a recent decision by Dr. Seuss Enterprises to stop publishing six of the prolific author’s books.

Nel, who is a professor of English at Kansas State University and director of the children’s literature program there, spoke with me about the book a few years ago. I republished the conversation here earlier this year when it was falsely reported that a Virginia school district had banned the books of Dr. Seuss, the pen name of Theodor Seuss Geisel.

No, a Virginia school district didn’t ban Dr. Seuss books. Here’s what really happened.

Nel is back with this post, in which he discusses racism in children’s books and the way the issue has become politicized. At the heart of his piece is this:

“Why not break up with your favorite racist childhood classics? Maybe doing so will break your heart a little. But, to quote a line attributed to Rumi (but which is probably not him), ‘You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.’"

By Philip Nel

It is possible to cancel a culture. More than 300 Indigenous languages were once spoken in the United States. Only about 175 of those languages remain today. Colonization, genocide, forced assimilation have all been very effective at canceling cultures.

However, the “cancel culture” that animates professional grievance actors today refers to culture under no threat of cancellation. Dr. Seuss books. Muppets. Disney. White innocence. Because it’s hard to cancel a dominant culture. “Cancel culture” is a White supremacist fantasy that creates villains and then mobilizes anger against the villains it CONTINUE READING: Breaking up with your favorite racist childhood classic books - The Washington Post

Dr. Seuss and “Cancel Culture” | Diane Ravitch's blog

Dr. Seuss and “Cancel Culture” | Diane Ravitch's blog

Dr. Seuss and “Cancel Culture”

The publisher of the many books written by Theodor Geisl (“Dr. Seuss”) announced that it was suspending publication of six books that contained demeaning drawings of Asian and African figures.

The books that will no longer be published are:

“And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street”

“If I Ran the Zoo”

“McElligot’s Pool,”

“On Beyond Zebra!,”

“Scrambled Eggs Super!”

“The Cat’s Quizzer.”

Having written a book in 2003 called The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Children Learn, I have a long-standing interest in censorship of books, textbooks, and tests. In that book, I came down on the side of free speech and freedom of expression. I did not grapple, however, with the real dilemma presented by books that contained hateful images, even if they were not seen as such when they were first published. I was CONTINUE READING: Dr. Seuss and “Cancel Culture” | Diane Ravitch's blog

Is the Dr. Seuss controversy a tempest in a teapot? Hell no. – Fred Klonsky

Is the Dr. Seuss controversy a tempest in a teapot? Hell no. – Fred Klonsky

IS THE DR. SEUSS CONTROVERSY A TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT? HELL NO.

You’ve may have heard all you want to hear about poor Dr. Seuss and Cancel Culture.

The publishers of Theodore Geisel’s books have decided that six of them won’t be published anymore because they are explicitly racist in the way Geisel drew some of his characters.

They are absolutely right.

The right wing went all cancel culture.

But the liberal’s defense may have bene worse. Geisel’s early racist depictions of Black and Asian people were excused as an issue of context. “That’s the way it was in those days,” some said. Nonsense. They were racist when he drew them.

The defenders of Geisel are reacting way too defensively. They act as if this is all taking up too much of our time.

I don’t think so.

I always made a practice of starting off my art classes, particularly with kindergarten CONTINUE READNG: Is the Dr. Seuss controversy a tempest in a teapot? Hell no. – Fred Klonsky

Six Dr. Seuss books to stop being published over ‘hurtful and wrong’ racial portrayals - Raw Story - Celebrating 16 Years of Independent Journalism

Six Dr. Seuss books to stop being published over ‘hurtful and wrong’ racial portrayals - Raw Story - Celebrating 16 Years of Independent Journalism

Six Dr. Seuss books to stop being published over ‘hurtful and wrong’ racial portrayals

Six Dr. Seuss books are being retired after decades of criticism over racist imagery in the illustrated children’s stories. Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the organization that carries on the author’s legacy, announced Tuesday that it will stop publishing and licensing “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” “If I Ran the Zoo,” “McElligot’s Pool,” “On Beyond Zebra!,” “Scrambled Eggs Super!” and “The Cat’s Quizzer.” “These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,” the organization said in a statement Tuesday morning, adding that the decision was made last year with a panel of e...

Read More Six Dr. Seuss books to stop being published over ‘hurtful and wrong’ racial portrayals - Raw Story - Celebrating 16 Years of Independent Journalism