A school librarian is refusing a Melania Trump's gift of Dr. Seuss
books. Nathan Rousseau Smith (@FantasticMrNate) explains why.
Buzz60
Melania
Trump is having her say after a Massachusetts school librarian rejected
the first lady's donation of Dr. Seuss books because they're racist and
unneeded.
"To turn the gesture of
sending young students some books into something divisive is
unfortunate, but the First Lady remains committed to her efforts on
behalf of children everywhere," Trump's spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham,
said in a statement to USA TODAY on Friday.
Grisham
said Trump intends to use her platform as FLOTUS "to help as many
children as she can. She has demonstrated this in both actions and words
since her husband took office, and sending books to children across the
country is but one example."
The dustup over Dr. Seuss provided more grist for
another grinding clash between Trump and Trump critics, liberals and
conservatives, Democrats and Republicans. But the book donation program
has been an annual gesture by previous first ladies for years; in
fact, both Barbara and Laura Bush put reading and literacy near the top
of their agendas.
And, as some Trump-supporting tweeters pointed out,
former President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama were photographed
multiple times over the years reading Seuss classics to children,
including Green Eggs and Ham and Oh, the Things You Can Do That Are Good For You.
How did this all start?
Three
weeks ago, in honor of National Read a Book Day, Trump sent packages of
10 Dr. Seuss books to one high-achieving school in every state. The
packages included titles such as The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham and a personal favorite that she and her son, Barron, 11, read together "over and over:" Oh, the Places You'll Go!
In an open letter to the first lady
posted on a book blog Thursday, Liz Phipps Soeiro,a library media
specialist at the Cambridgeport School in Cambridge, Mass., said that
while she was grateful for the books, she would not be accepting them.
Why? Because she says her Boston-area school doesn't lack for resources
and because she takes issue with "racist" imagery in some of the
author's books.
"Another fact that many people are
unaware of is that Dr. Seuss’ illustrations are steeped in racist
propaganda, caricatures, and harmful stereotypes," Phipps Soeiro wrote,
citing If I Ran a Zoo, which some critics say contains caricatures of Africans and Asians.
She also criticized the Trump administration's policies on funding schools and libraries, suggested Trump consult the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, for a list of diverse books, and called out Trump's education secretary by name.
"Why
not go out of your way to gift books to underfunded and underprivileged
communities that continue to be marginalized and maligned by policies
put in place by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos?" she proposed.
Her lengthy
letter prompted her school district to distance itself from her, saying
in a statement that she has the right to her opinion but it is not an
official position, according to the Boston Globe.
The
district did not return a call from USA TODAY seeking comment on
whether Phipps Soeiro will be disciplined for airing her opinion.
At least one Seuss scholar, Philip Nel, a professor of children's literature at Kansas State University, defended Phipps Soeiro in an interview with USA TODAY.
"I'm
glad she was directing attention to the need to fund school libraries
adequately and the need for diverse books," said Nel, author of Dr. Seuss: American Icon and Was the Cat in the Hat Black? The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature, and the Need for Diverse Books.
Are Dr. Seuss books racist?
Phipps
Soiero's reaction reflected both political opposition to the Trump
administration and the shift in educators' thinking about the imagery in
some of the most beloved Dr. Seuss books dating from the 1950s.
"The National Education Association recently dropped The Cat in the Hat
as the mascot for its Read Across America program and instead will
focus on diverse books, so (the issue) is in the conversation now," Nel
said.
But are Dr. Seuss books racist?
It
depends on the book, Nel says. Theodor Seuss Geisel, who died in
1991,employed both racist and anti-racist themes in his books, with The Sneetches and Horton Hears a Who among the most obvious of the latter, Nel says.
Both
books "clearly argue against picking on others for arbitrary marks of
difference," he said, citing green stars in the case of Sneetches and size in the case of Horton ("A person's a person, no matter how small").
"Racism
lurks in children's' culture in ways we're not aware of, and (authors)
can recycle images and ideas in their work without being aware of it,"
Nel says. "People don’t take children's lit seriously, they think kids
are not going to notice this, only grownups notice. That underestimates
their intelligence and doesn't take into account that we learn things
without being aware we’re learning things."
How can Dr. Seuss be such a sensitive subject?
Nel
acknowledged that people who remember Seuss stories with deep affection
find it difficult to critically examine them later for hidden themes
that even Geisel might have been unaware of, Nel said.
"Grownups
own the nostalgia for their childhood," Nel said. "It feels like a
challenge when you analyze (Seuss books) critically. It's why people
become angry (talking about these issues) ... Favorite books, toys,
films — they think, I am not a bad person, therefore, these can’t be
bad."
Southeast senators have
met President Muhammadu Buhari over IPOB agitation
- The senators alleged the southeast zone was shortchanged by the
government
- The deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu who led the delegation
said they had fruitful discussion with the president
Members of the Southeast caucus in the Senate on Tuesday, September 26
met with President Muhammadu Buhari over pressing issues facing the
zone.
The Sun reports that some of the issues raised at the closed-door
meeting centred on the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), lopsided
appointments and decaying infrastructure in the zone.
NAIJ.com gathered that the southeast senators were led by the deputy
Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and the caucus’ chairman, Eyinnaya
Abaribe, to the meeting held inside the President’s office at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja. Read more: https://www.naij.com/1127385-southeast-senators-meet-buhari-nnamdi-kanus-ipob-others.html#1127385
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