{"id":196702,"date":"2021-03-07T15:15:02","date_gmt":"2021-03-07T20:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=196702"},"modified":"2021-03-07T15:15:03","modified_gmt":"2021-03-07T20:15:03","slug":"anti-racist-organization-says-it-can-no-longer-use-dr-seuss-books-to-teach-tolerance-because-they-dont-address-structural-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/anti-racist-organization-says-it-can-no-longer-use-dr-seuss-books-to-teach-tolerance-because-they-dont-address-structural-racism\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Anti-Racist\u2019 Organization Says It Can No Longer Use Dr. Seuss Books To Teach Tolerance Because They Don\u2019t Address Structural Racism"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">40<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fanti-racist-organization-says-it-can-no-longer-use-dr-seuss-books-to-teach-tolerance-because-they-dont-address-structural-racism%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=196702&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/GettyImages-1185038954.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>The \u201canti-racist\u201d organization, Learning for Justice (formerly known as Teaching Tolerance), says it can no longer use a Dr. Seuss book, that was a key part of their \u201canti-racism\u201d curriculum to teach acceptance to children after last week\u2019s Dr. Seuss \u201ccancellation\u201d drama.<\/p>\n<p>Learning for Justice used to use the Dr. Seuss book, \u201cThe Sneetches,\u201d to teach children how to overcome visible differences to forge lasting friendships. In the book, there are two types of \u201cSneetches\u201d \u2014 giant, yellow, bird-like creatures with barrel bellies \u2014 one with plain bellies and one with star-shaped marks on their bellies. The two groups begin at odds with one another but ultimately learn to see their similarities rather than their singular difference.<\/p>\n<p>Now, though, Teaching Tolerance says Dr. Seuss is under stricter scrutiny as a result of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/six-dr-seuss-books-to-stop-being-printed-day-after-biden-left-out-author-from-read-across-america-day\">Dr. Seuss Enterprises\u2019 decision to pull six of the author\u2019s lesser-known works<\/a> over \u201churtful and wrong\u201d depictions of certain ethnic groups, and they no longer believe \u201cThe Sneetches\u201d is actually \u201canti-racist\u201d as they assumed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn light of a new study revealing stereotyped characters across Dr. Seuss\u2019s children\u2019s books, published just before Read Across America Day, how can educators engage older students in a critical discussion of this canonical author?\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.learningforjustice.org\/magazine\/its-time-to-talk-about-dr-seuss\">the group asked in a post to their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, they believe that the \u201ccancellation\u201d of Dr. Seuss should not be limited to just six books but should affect his entire collection of works because Dr. Seuss did not \u201cactively resist\u201d racism in his own time.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers behind the study that marked Dr. Seuss as \u201cracist, the group says, \u201cset out to address \u2018a gap in Seuss literature by revealing how racism spans across the entire Seuss collection.\u2019 Responding to the idea that Geisel was simply a product of his time, they disagree. \u2018[N]ot all White people \u2018of his time\u2019 engaged in overt racism or used their platforms to disseminate racist narratives and images nationally and globally, as he did,\u2019 they argue. \u2018There are White people throughout history, and of his generation, who actively resisted racism and risked their lives and careers to stand up against it.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The group\u2019s conclusion is at odds with Dr. Seuss\u2019s own biography. The children\u2019s author was instrumental in pressing for the United States to enter World War II because he realized, quite early, that the Nazis were intent on exterminating the Jewish population.<\/p>\n<p>No matter, though. Learning for Justice says that the study means they can no longer use Dr. Seuss\u2019s works \u2014 even the good ones \u2014 and that \u201cThe Sneetches\u201d has to be re-examined in light of Dr. Seuss\u2019s personal history.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn light of this new information, you may wonder about Dr. Seuss books featuring non-human characters,\u201d they said in a statement to their website. \u201cAt Teaching Tolerance, we\u2019ve even featured anti-racist activities built around the Dr. Seuss book <em>The Sneetches<\/em>. But when we re-evaluated, we found that the story is actually not as \u2018anti-racist\u2019 as we once thought. And it has some pretty intricate layers you and your students might consider, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It turns out that, while the Sneetches might have addressed their own overt prejudices, they failed to address the underlying \u201cstructural racism\u201d that gave rise to their initial conflict over belly stars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe solution to the story\u2019s conflict is that the Plain-Belly Sneetches and Star-Bellied Sneetches simply get confused as to who is oppressed. As a result, they accept one another,\u201d the group says. \u201cThis message of \u2018acceptance\u2019 does not acknowledge structural power imbalances. It doesn\u2019t address the idea that historical narratives impact present-day power structures. And instead of encouraging young readers to recognize and take action against injustice, the story promotes a race-neutral approach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/biden-cancels-dr-seuss-wont-mention-him-in-read-across-america-day-proclamation\">Biden Won\u2019t Mention Dr. Seuss In \u2018Read Across America Day\u2019 Proclamation<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The \u201canti-racist\u201d organization, Learning for Justice (formerly known as Teaching Tolerance), says it can no longer use a Dr. Seuss book, that was a key part of their \u201canti-racism\u201d curriculum &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2274961,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/GettyImages-1185038954.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018Anti-Racist\u2019 Organization Says It Can No Longer Use Dr. Seuss Books To Teach Tolerance Because They Don\u2019t Address Structural Racism","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-196702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/GettyImages-1185038954.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018Anti-Racist\u2019 Organization Says It Can No Longer Use Dr. Seuss Books To Teach Tolerance Because They Don\u2019t Address Structural Racism","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}