Removing Dr. Seuss books that contained racist images the right thing to do
The world has not come to an end. Dr. Seuss’s books are still widely available, and pulling in $33 million in profits annually. His estate – not a librarian, not a teacher, not Democrats – his estate determined that six of his children’s books included images that were so distorted and based in damaging stereotypes that they will no longer publish them.
Theodore Geisl is an artist and cartoonist who created highly racist images during his early career in the 1920s-30s. He also worked with Frank Capra to produce an anti-japanese propaganda film in advance of Executive Order 9066 that ordered the forced removal of Japanese people from their homes and business, and their ‘resettlement’ in desolate internment camps. These sentiments and images can be seen in his early children’s books, published in the 1930s-50s. And these are the books his estate will no longer publish.
Children remember what they see and hear about themselves and others, especially when pleasure is attached to their experience. A children’s book should convey respect and love for all children so they can see themselves and their peers as valued human beings. When stereotypes are included in revered books, we have to ask why we continue to value these books. We have to admit that many beloved books do real emotional and social harm. We can also admit that beautiful, artful, joyful anti-bias books are available for creating new reading legacies across generations.
Patricia Enciso, Columbus