Yesterday was Read Across America Day; created by the NEA in
1998 to encourage children to read. They chose March 2 because it’s the
birthday of Dr. Seuss, who taught us all to read and to love reading. Two decades
ago, school kids celebrated by eating green eggs and ham, and by wearing
red-and-white striped top hats. These days, Dr. Seuss is quietly disappearing
from his own birthday. The reason is some of his books are tainted with racist,
insensitive images. I’ve read them, and can testify it’s true. There are
depictions of Asians with slanted eyes, and the cat in the hat may be (gasp)
Black. I hope this won’t lead to censoring his work. By today’s standards,
everyone is racist, especially people born over a century ago. I suspect the
adults trying to cancel Seuss now first learned about equality, acceptance and
inclusion by reading The Sneeches and Horton Hears a Who.
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