‘[P]eople are unaware… that Dr. Seuss’s illustrations are steeped in racist propaganda’
Adan Salazar
Prison Planet.com
September 29, 2017
A Cambridge, Massachusetts, librarian refused several Dr. Seuss children’s books donated by First Lady Melania Trump, claiming the content is “steeped in racist propaganda.”
The First Lady donated ten Dr. Seuss titles to schools across the country in honor of National Read a Book Day, including, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go,” which Melania indicated she’d read to her son Barron “over and over.”
Cambridge Public Schools librarian Liz Phipps Soeiro thanked Melania for the “wonderful gesture,” but ultimately labeled Seuss works “a bit of a cliche” and said her library “would not be keeping the titles for our collection” due to their racist nature.
One “fact that many people are unaware of is that Dr. Seuss’s illustrations are steeped in racist propaganda, caricatures, and harmful stereotypes,“ Soeiro wrote in response to the First Lady.
“Open one of his books (If I Ran a Zoo or And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, for example), and you’ll see the racist mockery in his art,“ Soeiro explained.
- A d v e r t i s e m e n t
The triggered librarian also pointed to a School Library Journal article entitled, “Is the Cat in the Hat Racist? Read Across America Shifts Away from Dr. Seuss and Toward Diverse Books,” which analyzed the “minstrel characteristics and trope nature of Seuss’s characters,” as an example of why Seuss books are racist.
Soeiro also referenced a book by Philip Nel, Was the Cat in the Hat Black? The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature, and the Need for Diverse Books, as proof the beloved children’s author embraced a racist ideology.
“I am honored that you recognized my students and our school. I can think of no better gift for children than books; it was a wonderful…