Dr. Seuss' Racist Past Isn’t The Problem - Your Refusal To Have Hard Conversations Is
Trashing Dr. Seuss and throwing out his books doesn’t make you “woke” and doesn’t make you my ally.
Mamademics very clearly says in the linked article that throwing out Dr Seuss books isn’t the answer to end racism. I’m a lot less subtle. Throwing out Dr Seuss is the easy way out. Posting about it on Facebook is nothing more than an online glaring neon-sign virtue signal. “Look at me! I’m so not racist, I can trash a great American icon!”
Hard for a privileged white person is standing up for “other” every day. Standing up with those who are treated as less-than in our country, despite the fact that they don’t trust you and sometimes even hate you for your privilege. Standing up despite your privileged white peers bullying and shunning you for calling out their racism. Standing up even as all those “nice” women who now want to throw out their Dr. Seuss books stood by silent when you were flamed by actual racists, because nice, Christian homeschooling mothers don’t disagree, they don’t raise their voices, and they never discuss controversial topics.
Go ahead, throw out those Dr. Seuss books. Attack a man who brought the racist views of his childhood in the first half of the 20th Century into his early artwork to show how “woke” you are. Completely ignore that he grew well beyond his era and upbringing in white America to become a humanitarian, writing wonderful books that teach our children about diversity and inclusion. Just don’t expect a pat on the back.
Photo by Arwan Sutanto on Unsplash