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Friday
March 29th, 2024
L&T Opinions Page

earl watt mugL&T Publisher Earl Watt

 

Several years ago I was invited to read stories to children at Garfield Elementary as part of Seuss Days.

The goal was to encourage kids to read, and Dr. Seuss books were written in such a fun and creative way and accompanied by entertaining illustrations that they were the way many started their journey into reading.

When I was entering Kindergarten, my grandfather sent me my first prized possession — a set of Dr. Seuss books that were all my own.

The imagination ran wild when reading these books, from “Oh, the Places You’ll Go,” to “Green Eggs and Ham.”

The books of Dr. Seuss gave children of all backgrounds the belief that life can take you anywhere, that it is ok to try new things, and that we have to be good stewards of the land.

They taught us to look out for the small and the weak, and all the while we were learning to read.

The fact is, there are a few Dr. Seuss books that shared imagery of racial stereotypes, and before he began writing his books some of the advertisements he produced were also racially insensitive.

In many of his drawings in advertisements for mosquito repellent, he portrayed Blacks as tribal natives from deep within Africa’s most remote regions, and he also portrayed Asians in very stereotypical fashion that was not flattering.

In all, Dr. Seuss, or Theodor Seuss Geisel, wrote 60 books, and recently, Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced that it would discontinue publishing six of those publications that had racial undertones.

The six titles that will no longer be produced are: “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” If I Ran the Zoo,” “McElliott’s Pool,” “On Beyond Zebra,” “Scrambled Eggs Super!” and “The Cat’s Quizzer.”

I’ll admit I am not as familiar with these titles, but having the company voluntarily stop producing these books is the right step, and it is also the right step to continue to produce the other 54 books that provide the type of message all children should receive.

This was not a government ban, nor was it an overreaction as we have seen in some libraries across the nation that have pulled all Dr. Seuss books and want to educate children that Dr. Seuss was a racist.

It’s the same behavior we have seen when anyone has been found to have made an insensitive statement in the past. They must pay the ultimate price according to the cancel culture mentality. After all, if symbols of George Washington are under attack, Dr. Seuss never had a chance.

I hope our local district and local library don’t buy into this cancel culture movement and lose the good messaging that comes from the vast majority of Dr. Seuss books.

How can we not see the value in wording like, “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose,” or “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot nothing is going to get better. It’s not,” and “On and on you will hike. And I know you’ll hike far. And face up to your problems. Whatever they are.”

We can’t throw the good out with the bad. From the contributions of Washington and Dr. Seuss and the reality that they also had shortcomings like we all do, we can’t erase the entire story. 

In short, and in the style of Seuss:

Remember the good, and remember the bad, but favor the good, if at least just a tad. And as we learn how we grow from the bad and the good, we’ll recognize the places where we once stood. We will see where we righted a terrible wrong, when we learn from our past and now get along. Our past shines the light with its shortcomings and all, to help guide us forward, to answer the call. So remember the good and remember the bad, but favor the good, if at least just a tad.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR, Reita Isaacs, Liberal

 

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