The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Estate of beloved author addresses some concerns of racist imagery.
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America loves its doctors, from Dr. Kildare to Doc Watson to Dr. J. However, no doctor earns more affection than Dr. Seuss, author and illustrator of such children’s classics as “The Cat in the Hat” and “Horton Hears a Who!”
Former President Barack Obama once told a group of White House interns, “Pretty much all the stuff you need to know is in Dr. Seuss ... if I think about responsibility, I think about Horton sitting on the egg up in the tree, while lazy Mayzie’s flying off doing whatever she wants.”
Theodor Seuss Geisel, under the pen name Dr. Seuss, created a whimsical menagerie of feckless cats, faithful elephants and evil grinches. Three decades after his death at age 87 in 1991, Geisel’s books remain bestsellers, earning an estimated $33 million in 2020 before taxes, up from just $9.5 million five years ago,
according to Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which promotes and protects both his memory and his books.
Now, a few of those books have come under fire for racist caricatures. “Black and African characters in his books are often depicted as monkeys and apes, while Asian characters are said to be ‘helpers that all wear their eyes at a slant’ from ‘countries no one can spell,’” said Charis Granger-mbugua, a Cobb parent among those questioning the use of the books in schools.
Parents were not alone in rethinking the message of the books. Last week, the business that oversees the Dr. Seuss estate said it was ceasing publication of six titles, including “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” and “If I Ran the Zoo.” Dr. Seuss Enterprises said the decision grew out of many months of review.
Its statement said: “These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong. Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families. Dr. Seuss Enterprises listened and took feedback from our audiences including teachers, academics, and specialists in the field as part of our review process. We then worked with a panel of experts, including educators, to review our catalog of titles.”
Also on the list of books that will cease to be published are “On Beyond Zebra!” “Mcelligot’s Pool,” “Scrambled Eggs Super!” and “The Cat’s Quizzer.”
The announcement drew immediate backlash with people citing the cancel culture and a loss of common sense. Conservative Congressman Jim Jordan, R-ohio, tweeted: “If Dr. Seuss wanted to #Defundthepolice, his books wouldn’t be getting canceled.” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp jumped into the fray, posting on social media: “First Mr. Potato Head, now Dr. Seuss. Clearly, Democrats — with help from the Biden Administration — will cancel anyone and anything.”
But there were also more tempered responses on social media: “These titles won’t be missed. They probably weren’t selling well anyway. Conservatives will scream that liberals are censoring Dr. Seuss. Plenty of his books are classics and stand the test of time. These don’t. We need to let go of children’s books that contain offensive/ racist imagery,” said one commenter.
The decision by the Dr. Seuss estate gained more prominence due to its timing: It was reported on March 2, which is both Geisel’s birthday and Read Across America Day, a popular literacy event launched in 1998 by the National Education Association and centered on Dr. Seuss books.
While some teachers still don the Cat in the Hat’s red and white striped stovepipe hat, others have followed the NEA’S lead and shifted the focus to diverse voices rather than Seuss classics. Many news reports last week suggested this NEA change of heart was new, but it goes back to 2017 when the NEA said Read Across America should celebrate a diversity of readers and books.
And that has been happening. In Winder, for example, Kennedy Elementary School teacher Jodi Sorrells decided to literally have students read across America; she collected videos of people around the United States reading children’s books for students at her school. For example, one New York volunteer shared the book “Forest Green” while standing on frozen Lake George at the foothills of the Adirondacks.
Still, the decision by Dr. Seuss Enterprises to cease publication of some books did not go over well with many people who said they read the books to their children and are now reading them to their grandchildren.
“I noticed that it doesn’t appear that Dr. Seuss Enterprises asked any parents regarding their thoughts on this issue,” said Teresa Collier of Smyrna. “Here we go again with left-wing wokeism regarding one of America’s revered characters, Dr. Seuss. I say this as a Black grandmother who purchased and read many Dr. Seuss books to my children and grandchildren. The cleverness of the linguistics in these books are extremely helpful in helping young children navigate the complexities of learning language and comprehension skills.”
Ebony Elizabeth Thomas of the University of Pennsylvania studies how portrayals of people of color in children’s literature shape culture. I would like to give her the final word on this, from an article she wrote on the need for diverse children’s and young adults’ books:
“When we face challenges to diverse book selections, our response can rightly be that we wish for every child to feel, as Walter Dean Myers once said, ‘as if they are part of America’s dream, that all the rhetoric is meant for them, and that they are wanted in this country.’ Ultimately, this is why stories still matter, and always will.”
For the first time, teams not invited to the NCAA Tournament will have more to consider than their NIT seeding. The top four teams not in the field of 68 — the “first four out,” in other years — will be put on standby. If any of the chosen 68 have a major COVID19 event between Selection Sunday and Tuesday, March 16, a bracket-filling replacement will be summoned. After March 16, you play or you forfeit.
The cancellation of last year’s NCAA Tournament was the moment when the masses began to take the pandemic seriously. It also was massively costly for member institutions and the NCAA itself. By August, when nobody was sure there’d be a college football season, Mike Krzyzewski said: “We can’t have it where two years in a row you don’t have the NCAA Tournament.”
(After Duke started 2-2, Krzyzewski averred that everyone should “reassess” the wisdom of playing basketball during COVID-19. This prompted Alabama’s Nate Oats to say: “Do you think if Coach K hadn’t lost his two non-conference games at home he’d still be saying that?” This just in: College basketball coaches can be catty.)
Duke wound up playing 18 league games, losing half. Boston College and Louisville, also Acc-based, worked 13 conference games. The Georgia Bulldogs had one game can
celed/postponed — the opener against Columbus State, scrubbed two hours before tipoff. Georgia State, which was playing for the Sun Belt title Monday night, had nine cancellations/postponements. Baylor had four games canceled, seven postponed.
Every school that played has traveled a pockmarked road to this installment of March Madness — but here they are, and here they go. This Sunday is Selection Sunday. All roads lead to Indiana, where the entirety of the NCAA Tournament will be held, the bulk in Indianapolis. From here on, there will be no postponements.
Georgia Tech finished its regular season by winning in Winston-salem on Friday. The ACC Tournament is in Greensboro, which is right next door. As one of the ACC’S top four seeds, Tech was assigned the Grandover Resort as its HQ. The Yellow Jackets’ Tier 1 party of 34 will remain there until the team heads for Indy next week. (An NCAA invitation seems a given.) Tech will hunker down in the Hoosier State until it loses or claims the national championship. Should Tech win it all, it will have been on the road for 33 days.
Said guard Jose Alvarado: “If I’m not home, that means we’re winning . ... It means I’m coming home with a trophy that’s bigger than what basketball is.”
Said coach Josh Pastner: “The best way is to protect ourselves, which does not guarantee protection — we’re not vaccinated. And If you’re not vaccinated, the next-best thing is to try and create a bubble. The only way to create a bubble is to stay out and just keep with our Tier 1 Group . ... If we play for the (national) championship, we’ll fly home (from Indianapolis) the morning of (April) 6th; if we lose, we’ll come back the next morning. We’re not coming back until one of those things happens. It’s the best way to control a situation that’s impossible to control. You’re dealing with a virus that’s invisible.”
From here until season’s end, Tech will test its 34 travelers daily. Each player has his own room. Each has been instructed not to share an elevator with anyone outside the traveling party. Each will be allowed to see family members only in the lobby at a social distance with masks required. Oh, and don’t think about touching the shrimp cocktail with an ungloved hand. Longtime publicist Mike Stamus committed that venial sin Sunday. This sent Pastner into a teaching-moment tizzy.
This is Week 1 of what could be a five-week journey. Moses Wright, named the ACC’S Player of the Year Monday, expressed regret that he hasn’t been able to go swimming, but for that to happen, the pool would have to be closed and then disinfected. (And remember, three other teams — Virginia, Florida State and Virginia Tech — will be checking into the Grandover soon.)
Said Alvarado: “It’s a little boring, but we know what we’re here for. We’re trying to win a championship.”
As for school: The Jackets were already taking virtual classes. Alvarado again: “When you’re winning, teachers love you.”
Said Pastner: “Two of our young men are fathers. They don’t get to see their kids or their girlfriends this month. It’s not easy. I don’t get to see my wife or my kids. It’s not easy for anybody.”
For more than a decade, Tech wasn’t good enough to reach the NCAA’S proverbial bubble. Having just finished fourth in the 15-team ACC, the Jackets don’t have to worry about getting in. Their concern is in staying healthy enough to keep playing. Toward that end, Pastner has built a different sort of bubble, which means he’s worried about everything. That shrimp cocktail could be the difference between One Shining Moment and One Fat Forfeit.
LAS VEGAS — He’d had a nice first month at his new job, had quickly settled in and was falling into a familiar rhythm. A win was coming, Kyle Larson could feel it, and he was right.
And yet a past mistake remained the dominant narrative of Larson’s return to NASCAR. He wondered via text if a time will ever come when he is mentioned without a reference “about me being indefinitely suspended for the use of a racial slur?”
The truth: Probably not, at least for now.
When Larson showed up for the Daytona 500, it was his first race back from a nearly yearlong suspension. When he put together three solid races, it was a strong start with the team that had thrown him a lifeline when he was deemed untouchable by sponsors so critical to running a race team.
And when Larson won Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, it was his first victory on the long road of redemption that stretches to last Easter, when he dropped the n-word during an online race. Every single sponsor dropped him within 24 hours, he was fired and he fled with his family back to his home state of California.
The rebuilding path involved a personal journey for Larson, whose Japanese grandparents were confined to an internment camp during World War II. Larson, despite his own family experience with racism and at nearly 28 years old, was somehow immune, immature and unaware of racial injustices. He completed the required NASCAR sensitivity training but went far beyond that. On his own and without attention, Larson volunteered with organizations that serve minorities and underprivileged communities while meeting with Black leaders to educate himself.
Larson last week launched The Drive for 5 Campaign, a foundation to benefit children, families
and communities in need of support.
Even while he was banished by NASCAR, the community never turned its back on him. Fellow drivers kept him in their circle of friends and fans still lined up to buy his merchandise at local tracks all across the country.
Rick Hendrick believed in Larson, believed he deserved a second chance and believed he was still a winner.
Hendrick Motorsports is one of NASCAR’S elite teams and Larson is considered one of the top raw talents in motorsports. The pairing had the potential to turn Larson into the next Jeff Gordon, and because no one wanted to hire Larson, Hendrick could sign him at a steep discount. Hendrick would run the car out of his own pocket because he figured Larson would win once in Hendrick equipment. People like winners, and if Larson started winning, Hendrick knew the sponsors would follow.
After Larson climbed from his car Sunday at the finish line, runner-up Brad Keselowski ran across the infield grass and up the track banking to congratulate him.
“I think everybody loves a good redemption story,” Keselowski said. “He’s fought really hard for his opportunity to come back.
... We’ve all been kind of pulling for him.”
When Larson got to victory lane, Bubba Wallace, NASCAR’S only Black full-time driver, was there to shake his hand. “Told him way to keep his head thru it all! We all knew it was a matter of time,” Wallace wrote on Twitter.
Bill Lester, once NASCAR’S lone Black driver during seven seasons of Truck Series racing, joined Mario Andretti in lauding Larson online. “You got your second chance and absolutely made the most of it!” Lester tweeted. “Your talent was never in question, only one of your decisions.”
Larson said he “definitely got a little choked up” on the final lap of Sunday’s win. He admitted he didn’t know if he’d ever race in NASCAR again, win another race or compete for a championship.
“It’s going to be a stain for a little while,” Anthony Martin, founder of the Urban Youth School in Philadelphia where Larson mentors, said Monday. “But the things we have planned, the things that Kyle has planned for the community ... a few years from now, I don’t think it’s going to stay with him because of the good that he’s going to do.”
One win does not wipe the slate clean, but it certainly shifts the conversation.