Dr. Seuss Books: This school district in Virginia says it does not ban his books. At the annual Read Across America Day, it is simply no longer emphasized

Dr. Seuss Books: This school district in Virginia says it does not ban his books. At the annual Read Across America Day, it is simply no longer emphasized

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But Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS), located in Ashburn, said it does not ban books from the famous children’s author. It only discourages the connection between ‘Reading Across America’s Day’, which was created to get kids excited about reading, and dr. Seuss’s birthday. Both fall on March 2 and are often “historically connected” to each other, the district said in a statement.
“Research over the past few years has shown strong racial undertones in many books written / illustrated by Dr. Seuss,” LCPS said in a statement referring to the 2018 School Library Journal article on the National Education Association that his Read Across America efforts focus “on Diversity Not Dr. Seuss.”

Examples of racial undertones in the books include “anti-Japanese American political cartoons and cartoons depicting African Americans for sale with captioned language,” LCPS wrote.

“Given this research and LCPS’s focus on fair and educational education, LCPS has given this guidance to schools over the past few years not to associate Read Across America Day exclusively with Dr. Seuss’ birthday.”

Dr. Seuss had a long history of publishing racist and anti-Semitic work, dating back to the 1920s when he was a student at Dartmouth College. There, dr. Seuss once portrayed black boxers as gorillas, as well as perpetuating Jewish stereotypes as financially stingy, according to a study published in the journal Research on Diversity in Youth Literature.

In the study, which was published in 2019, 50 books by dr. Seuss examines and finds that 43 of the 45 color characters ‘have characteristics that correspond to the definition of orientalism’. According to the study, the two “African” characters both have anti-black characteristics.

According to the study, two specific examples are found in the books “The Cat’s Quizzer: Are You Smarter Than the Cat in the Hat?” and “When I run the zoo.”

“In (‘The Cat’s Quizzer’) the Japanese character is called ” Japanese ”, has a bright yellow face and stands on what looks like Mount Fuji, ‘the authors wrote.

As for ‘If I Ran the Zoo’, the study shows another example of orientalism and white supremacy.

“The three (and only three) Asian characters who do not wear cone hats wear a white male on their heads in ‘When I Run the Zoo’. The White male is not just on top and is worn by these Asian characters , but he also holds a gun that illustrates.The text among the Asian characters describes them as ‘helpers who all carry their eyes diagonally’ out of ‘countries no one can spell.’ “

The study also argues that since most human characters in Dr. Seuss’s books are White, his works – by accident or not – center Whiteness and thus perpetuate white supremacy.

LCPS said Dr. Seuss’s books are still available in his libraries and classrooms, “but Dr. Seuss and his books no longer place the emphasis on Read Across America Day in Loudoun County Public Schools.”

“We continue to encourage our young readers to read all kinds of books that are diverse, diverse and reflective of our student community, and not just to celebrate Dr. Seuss,” LCPS said.

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