{"id":207440,"date":"2021-03-10T09:15:02","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T14:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=207440"},"modified":"2021-03-10T09:15:03","modified_gmt":"2021-03-10T14:15:03","slug":"study-that-triggered-cancellation-of-dr-seuss-called-cat-in-the-hat-racist-horton-the-elephant-a-white-supremacist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/study-that-triggered-cancellation-of-dr-seuss-called-cat-in-the-hat-racist-horton-the-elephant-a-white-supremacist\/","title":{"rendered":"Study That Triggered Cancellation of Dr. Seuss Called Cat In The Hat Racist, Horton The Elephant A White Supremacist"},"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\">38<\/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%2Fstudy-that-triggered-cancellation-of-dr-seuss-called-cat-in-the-hat-racist-horton-the-elephant-a-white-supremacist%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=207440&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\/book-2.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Dr. Seuss Enterprises may have pulled just six books from publication, citing \u201churtful and wrong\u201d depictions, but the study that prompted Read Across America &nbsp;and, potentially, Dr. Seuss Enterprises to re-examine the famous children\u2019s author\u2019s books suggests that most, if not all, of Dr. Seuss books have elements of racism and sexism and that the author himself deserves to be fully \u201ccanceled.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The study, which follows the controversial \u201cCritical Race Theory,\u201d was authored by a pair of researchers behind \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theconsciouskid.org\/\">The Conscious Kid<\/a>,\u201d which calls itself \u201can education, research, and policy organization dedicated to equity and promoting healthy racial identity development in youth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe support organizations, families, and educators in taking action to disrupt racism in young children,\u201d says the group.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel,&nbsp;is a primary target of \u201cThe Conscious Kid,\u201d and the group believes that some of the author\u2019s most beloved characters, including the Cat in the Hat and Horton the elephant from \u201cHorton Hears a Who,\u201d are truly racist metaphors that promote ideas of white supremacy and white paternalism.<\/p>\n<p>Although neither of those books is yet banned, the 2019 study, titled \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/sophia.stkate.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1050&amp;context=rdyl\">The Cat is Out of the Bag: Orientalism, Anti-Blackness, and White Supremacy in Dr. Seuss\u2019s Children\u2019s Books<\/a>,\u201d is important context for the current battle, not just over whether Seuss\u2019s works should be published, but whether they should be allowed to be sold or held in libraries.<\/p>\n<p>The report begins with a deep dive into Dr. Seuss\u2019s alleged history of prejudice and the author\u2019s early dalliances with racism in his works, arguably important context for Dr. Seuss as well as relevant to the environment in which Seuss came of age and gained notoriety as a cartoonist during World War II.<\/p>\n<p>The study then explores not just Seuss\u2019s early work, but also his children\u2019s books, through the lens of the controversial \u201cCritical Race Theory,\u201d which suggests that literature be examined with an eye to its alleged inherent racism and connection to issues of racial justice. The specific study examined \u201cfifty of fifty-nine\u201d Dr. Seuss works, analyzing issues such as how many times white characters appeared as opposed to characters of color, which characters are put into positions of hierarchy, whether characters of color are dehumanized or made to seem \u201cexotic,\u201d whether the book embraces racial stereotypes or caricatures, and whether Seuss\u2019s works specifically exhibited racism, sexism, and white supremacy.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps it is not surprising that the authors, intent on finding problematic issues, discovered problems with the vast majority of Dr. Seuss books and nearly every Dr. Seuss character. Most of the characters Dr. Seuss uses are not human, but of those that are, just 2% are characters of color, the study found. And all of those are deemed problematic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf the forty-five characters of color, forty-three are identified as having characteristics aligning with the definition of Orientalism. Within the Orientalist definition, fourteen people are identified by stereotypical East Asian characteristics and twenty-nine characters are wearing turbans,\u201d the study\u2019s authors say. \u201cOnly two of the forty-five characters are identified in the text as \u2018African\u2019 and both align with the theme of anti-Blackness. White supremacy is seen through the centering of Whiteness and White characters, who comprise 98% (2,195 characters) of all characters. Notably, every character of color is male. Males of color are only presented in subservient, exotified, or dehumanized roles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The six titles ultimately pulled from publication \u2014 &nbsp;\u201cAnd to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,\u201d \u201cIf I Ran the Zoo,\u201d McElligot\u2019s Pool,\u201d \u201cOn Beyond Zebra!\u201d \u201cScrambled Eggs Super!\u201d and \u201cThe Cat\u2019s Quizzer\u201d \u2014 are among those the study identifies as the worst of the worst, for reasons already delineated in a number of reports.<\/p>\n<p>But the study\u2019s authors don\u2019t stop there. Dr. Seuss\u2019s non-human characters are also deemed problematic, and chief among them are the Cat in the Hat and Horton the elephant.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHorton Hears a Who! is one of Dr. Seuss\u2019 books widely cited as promoting tolerance. Several Seuss scholars infer that the Whos symbolize the Japanese and that the book is an apology for his anti-Japanese WWII propaganda,\u201d the study\u2019s authors say. \u201cRegardless of the intention of the book, the impact is that it reinforces themes of White supremacy, Orientalism, and White saviorism. It positions the Whos in a deficit-based framework as the dominant, paternalistic Horton enacts the White Savior Industrial Complex.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot only does a White savior narrative play out within \u2018Horton Hears a Who!,\u2019 Seuss himself is positioned as a White savior for writing it,\u201d they claim. \u201cAlthough he supported and fueled the mass incarceration and killing of the Japanese and Japanese Americans, he is lauded for his \u2018tolerance\u2019 for writing an allegory about \u2018saving\u2019 them. In the book, the Whos are \u2018helpless\u2019 and need to be \u2018saved\u2019 and protected by the bigger, more powerful (White savior), Horton.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The authors cite a single, separate scholar to buttress their claim, but the scholar attributes the white savior narrative to Seuss seemingly without any significant evidence.<\/p>\n<p>The Cat in the Hat is next on the list.<\/p>\n<p>The cat, the authors claim, was \u201cinspired by blackface performance, racist images in popular culture, and actual African Americans,\u201d citing other Critical Race Theory scholars who suggest that the Cat in the Hat\u2019s appearance mimics that of racist minstrel performers.<\/p>\n<p>While the racism in the first Cat in the Hat book appears limited just to the character\u2019s appearance according to the authors, \u201cThe Cat in the Hat Comes Back,\u201d the authors claim, is a complete allegory meant to teach children about white supremacy.<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"30\">\n<p><em>In Seuss\u2019 narrative, the Cat uses the White family\u2019s white bathtub and leaves a thick ring of his ink in it. When the Cat gets out of the bath, he wipes his ink on the White mother\u2019s white dress, the white walls, the White dad\u2019s shoes, the hallway rug, and the parents\u2019 white bed. To clean up the ink all over the house, the Cat takes twenty-six \u201cLittle Cats\u201d out of his hat to help. These Cats all have guns: \u201cMy cats have good guns.\/ They will KILL all those spots!,\u201d and as they \u201ckill\u201d the spots with their guns, they leave even more ink in their path until all the snow outside of the house is covered in ink (Seuss, The Cat in the Hat Comes 44). Instead of the word \u201cclean,\u201d the word \u201ckill\u201d is used repeatedly: \u201c\u2018Come on! Kill those spots!\/ Kill the mess!\u2019 yelled the cats\u201d (Seuss, The Cat in the Hat Comes 51). The children yell, \u201cAll this does is make MORE spots!\/ \u2026Your cats are no good.\/ Put them back in the hat\u201d (Seuss, The Cat in the Hat Comes 46). The story concludes when the last cat, \u201cLittle Cat Z,\u201d is able to use a \u201cVoom\u201d to blow all the cats back in the hat and return everything to its \u201cright,\u201d \u201cwhite\u201d state: \u201cNow your snow is all white!\/ Now your work is done!\/ Now your house is all right\u201d (Seuss, The Cat in the Hat Comes 61)\u2026The message here is that Whiteness is \u201cright\u201d and Blackness is \u201cbad,\u201d dirty, chaotic, violent, and \u201cno good.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The authors fail to mention that the \u201cink\u201d is, in fact, frosting from a cake. And it is not black; it\u2019s pink.<\/p>\n<p>The authors move on to attack \u201cThe Sneetches\u201d and perennial kindergarten favorite, \u201cOh! The Places You\u2019ll Go\u201d as coded works meant to convey the idea that white people are superior to minorities.<\/p>\n<p>If that were not enough, Seuss is not just racist, he\u2019s also sexist:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"12\">\n<p><em>Intersections of racism and sexism occur across Seuss\u2019 entire collection of literature. White women and girls retain minimal speaking roles, are rarely present, and are presented in subservient roles. The more startling finding is that women and girls of color are completely absent across his children\u2019s book collection. Seuss\u2019 White male protagonist leads dominate the visual space, narratives, and speaking roles. This shows the value in whose experiences matter and whose do not. This marginalization of White women and absence of women of color are rooted in hegemonic notions of White supremacy and patriarchy.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Many critics of the pushback against Dr. Seuss Enterprises\u2019 decision to stop publishing the six \u201ccontroversial\u201d books claim that only clearly outdated titles are being pulled, and not truly absent from the marketplace.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s important here is that they aren\u2019t asking anyone to stop reading them, taking them out of their personal collections, or library collections or schools,\u201d a spokesperson for the American Library Association told National Public Radio last week. \u201cThey just made a decision that they wanted to be more responsible to the communities they serve. There is such a wealth of children\u2019s literature today that celebrates the diverse experiences of children and their families and that don\u2019t confront children with racist images that could be hurtful or traumatizing for them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the study, which appears to have triggered Dr. Seuss Enterprises into a full analysis of the author\u2019s catalog, does not see the crusade to \u201ccancel\u201d the children\u2019s author as limited. In fact, it suggests that nearly all of Seuss\u2019s works are problematic and that educational programs, such as Read Across America, should drop Dr. Seuss altogether. This past year, Read Across America did indeed drop Dr. Seuss as a central part of the program, and even the White House failed to mention Seuss in its Read Across America proclamation.<\/p>\n<p>In the final paragraphs of the study the authors credit themselves for being instrumental in convincing the National Education Association to shift away from Dr. Seuss as the lead author celebrated during Read Across America (though the celebration takes place on Dr. Seuss\u2019s birthday).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn 2017,\u201d they note, \u201cwe submitted this stakeholder feedback, and our study findings, to the National Education Association\u2019s (NEA) Read Across America (RAA) Advisory Committee. RAA is the nation\u2019s largest celebration of reading, with over 45 million annual participants.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe advocated that they reconsider their twenty-year focus on Seuss and use their platform to promote anti-racist diverse books by authors of color,\u201d the authors note.<\/p>\n<p>The presentation was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pragmaticmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/FINALNEAReportDr.SeusssRacismandRAA.pdf\">catalogued and remains available<\/a>. That abbreviated version of the paper also takes aim at \u201cOne Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish\u201d in a selection that reads almost like a parody (though the NEA clearly took it seriously).<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"17\">\n<p><em>The authors claim that&nbsp; \u201cmultiple animal characters in One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish [symbolize] Black people and Black\/white relations, including the reference of the Yink drinking ink, characters depicted as not being able to read, riding in the \u2018back of the bike,\u2019 pushing white children on a bike up a hill (\u2018We like our Mike and this is why: Mike does all the work when the hills get high\u2019), and boxing \u2018the great white hope.&#8217;\u201d This is the page featuring the character \u201cMike,\u201d which has been suggested as being a reference to Black people riding in the back of the bus and being subservient to white children.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In 2020, it appears the authors finally succeeded in reaching their goal.<\/p>\n<p>Although the authors do not specifically say they submitted their findings to Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the claims, complaints, and justifications for pulling the targeted works are the same \u2014 and the crusade is far from over. Their goal, the authors say, is to engage&nbsp; \u201cstakeholders, including youth, families, and teachers from racially marginalized communities, to identify and document existing forms of resistance to Seuss\u2019 racist works.\u201d<\/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&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Seuss Enterprises may have pulled just six books from publication, citing \u201churtful and wrong\u201d depictions, but the study that prompted Read Across America \u00a0and, potentially, Dr. Seuss Enterprises to &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2310415,"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\/book-2.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Study That Triggered Cancellation of Dr. Seuss Called Cat In The Hat Racist, Horton The Elephant A White Supremacist","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207440","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\/book-2.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Study That Triggered Cancellation of Dr. Seuss Called Cat In The Hat Racist, Horton The Elephant A White Supremacist","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207440","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=207440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2310415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}