Dr. Seuss is Cancelled, You Say?
Yesterday a close friend of mine sent me a text: “Can you explain something to me seriously,” he said. “I’m having a hard time w this. The Dr Seuss thing. It’s upsetting me. Like I don’t understand. How is that offensive but WAP is not? I know I sound like a Trumper. That is why I’m coming to you.”
I too had seen the recent accusations that Dr. Seuss had been “cancelled.” The topic was endlessly mined in memes on friends’ pages on Facebook and Instagram. I didn’t want to investigate much further because a) I’m tired of knee-jerk outrage and b) I already had a hunch what was going on based on a few headlines: President Biden didn’t mention Dr. Seuss in the his proclamation for Read Across America Day. Somebody took note of this and the announcement that also came that day from Seuss Enterprises and added it to the list of grievances about “woke culture” and “cancel culture.” From the looks of the memes implicating Biden in this, you would think that he himself cancelled Dr. Seuss.
But he didn’t. I decided to investigate further! Let’s break it down.
President Biden simply did not mention Dr. Seuss in his written proclamation for Read Across America Day, which was established by National Education Association in 1998 and falls every year on March 2, Theodore Geisel’s (aka Dr. Seuss) birthday. President Obama started the tradition of celebrating Dr. Seuss by name in an annual proclamation in 2008 and that tradition continued through Trump’s Presidency. The day inherently celebrates Dr. Seuss, but more broadly, it celebrates reading. Mentioning him by name in an annual proclamation is not an age-old tradition.
This year Read Across America Day coincided with the announcement from Dr. Seuss Enterprises that they would no longer publish six Dr. Seuss titles that contain racist imagery, which are “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” and “If I Ran the Zoo,” “McElligot's Pool,” “On Beyond Zebra!” “Scrambled Eggs Super!” and “The Cat's Quizzer.”
Dr. Seuss Enterprises likely timed their announcement to generate media buzz. It’s worked. Today, eleven of the top 12 books on Amazon’s best-selling charts were by Dr. Seuss. Cancelled?
None of these best sellers are the books they stopped publishing, of course. Those are now for sale for thousands of dollars. A racially insensitive book can be yours! Dr. Seuss Enterprises chose to stop publishing six of their least popular titles, none of which are the classics that you grew up with. Dr. Seuss published over 60 children’s books. You can still buy “The Cat in the Hat,” “Green Eggs and Ham,” or my favorite “I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!”
Dr. Seuss Enterprises made the decision for the betterment of our culture. They told the AP in a statement on Tuesday, “These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong. Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises' catalog represents and supports all communities and families.” In academic and literary circles, the issue of racist imagery in Dr. Seuss books has been discussed for a long time. I remember hearing of it when I was an English major in college in 2005-2009. Like many topics of this nature, it has just made its way into mainstream media circles at a time when many such topics are being formally addressed.
Dr. Seuss Enterprises is profiting from their racially sensitive decision to remove those titles because you can still buy (almost) all of the Dr. Seuss books you want. You can have your “Green Eggs and Ham” and eat it too.