A Librarian from Boston Massachusetts refused Dr. Seuss books from the First Lady. The WASHINGTON FREE BEACON notes this:
- She then characterized Dr. Seuss’s illustrations as racist and said that they were steeped in “racist propaganda, caricatures, and harmful stereotypes,” listing several examples in her letter
MOONBATTERY notes this: “Liz Phipps Soeiro, a librarian at Cambridgeport School, refused to accept the books, denouncing Dr. Seuss’s cherished works as ‘steeped in racist propaganda, caricatures, and harmful stereotypes’.” Here is an excerpt from Liz Phipps Soeiro’s letter:
Another fact that many people are unaware of is that Dr. Seuss’s illustrations are steeped in racist propaganda, caricatures, and harmful stereotypes. 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. Grace Hwang Lynch’s School Library Journal article, “Is the Cat in the Hat Racist? Read Across America Shifts Away from Dr. Seuss and Toward Diverse Books,” reports on Katie Ishizuka’s work analyzing the minstrel characteristics and trope nature of Seuss’s characters. Scholar Philip Nel’s new book, Was the Cat in the Hat Black? The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature, and the Need for Diverse Books, further explores and shines a spotlight on the systemic racism and oppression in education and literature.
Well then, Michelle Obama is a Ra-ra-ra-RAAAAACIST!