By: Grace Pereira
Earlier this month, Dr. Seuss Enterprises issued a statement that it would stop the publication of six of his books due to racist imagery. This announcement has triggered an uproar of opposition from right wing groups, such as Fox News, defending these offensive books; yet, none of the titles are the renowned classics. No one is trying to remove the best sellers. The six books that are being taken off the shelves 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!," and "The Cat's Quizzer."
These books contain harmful, offensive depictions of black people and Asian people, so there is ample reason for the books to be under fire. In schools, these are not the kind of books we should be allowing children to read, as they enforce racist stereotypes. Children look up to authors like Dr. Seuss, and I am sure he was a part of your childhood as well, so we must acknowledge the author’s racist past.
Some people may claim that this is just a result of “cancel culture”, but in my opinion, that is just an excuse to ignore the racist imagery. No one is cancelling Dr. Seuss. Simply, it is about not tolerating racism, and accepting change. With that being said, I believe that we need to learn from this prejudice that has been prevalent throughout history. The removal of the books is a step in the right direction, and we must continue to learn from the past to ensure that racial stereotypes are not a part of future literature.
No comments:
Post a Comment