Earlier this month it was announced that multiple Dr. Seuss books will no longer be published due to racist and insensitive imagery. Dr. Seuss has been publishing books since the early 1900s, with over 650 million copies sold globally. Growing up, books such as The Cat in The Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, and Oh, The Places You’ll Go! were staples of my childhood. When I heard this news, I knew I had to investigate how something so ubiquitous is now being recognized as offensive.
So, why is this only happening now if Dr. Seuss’s books have always included racist and insensitive imagery? Most might have been shocked by him being exposed to racism because of the nostalgic connection the majority of Americans have with his published books. I mean, he is seen as America’s symbol of childhood after all. Some have excused his racism because they saw it as a reflection of the time period that Seuss was living in, basically under the assumption that he might not have known better or didn’t recognize how insensitive his books truly were. However, many aren’t accepting this explanation.
Philip Nel is a children’s literature scholar and English professor at Kansas State University and says that “…There were plenty of white Americans during that time who were not spreading the rhetoric [Dr. Seuss] was.” Karen Ishizuka, Chief Curator at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, also doesn’t accept this excuse for racism, explaining how “The long-standing prevalence of racist Asian imagery within the larger widespread anti-Asian sentiment in the U.S. added to the delayed response to Dr. Seuss’ racism.” Ishizuka also explains that the delayed attention to this racism was likely because it was harder to identify it rather than if someone were to say or use the descriptions from Dr. Seuss right in someone’s face. Dr. Seuss’s racism wasn’t just found in his children’s books either, but also in the political cartoons that he created that were featured in the New York newspaper during the mid-1940s. Publishing almost 400 cartoons, many displayed anti-Japanese racism during World War II and after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Seuss would also refer to Japanese people using the racial slur “Jap”.
The decision to halt the publications of certain books, such as If I Ran The Zoo, Scrambled Eggs Super!, and And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, by Dr. Seuss Enterprises, comes at a time where there have been heavy calls for racial and social justice. These unearthings also highlight the importance of diversity in children’s books. A 2019 survey found that only about 2% of Dr. Seuss’s characters were people of color. The fight for justice in racial equality includes representation and it is crucial for representation and education on racial and social justice issues to be taught at a young age. This is because it will help prevent the formation of racial bias and prejudice during the early stages of childhood and development. If we can take anything away from this entire Dr. Seuss exposure, it’s that we need to be able to recognize the positive examples of racial representation but also be able to call out the negative examples too, regardless of fame and rank.
