Politics
Biden skips tradition and DOESN’T mention Dr Seuss in Read Across America Day proclamation after ‘racism’ storm
JOE Biden has skipped a tradition and not mentioned Dr Seuss in his Read Across America Day proclamation after “racism” claims.
This comes after Loudoun County Public School District in Virginia removed Dr Seuss from its Read Across America Day celebration, claiming that the legendary author’s books had racial “undertones.”
Biden did not mention Dr Seuss in his Read Across America declaration[/caption]
There have been recent claims that Dr Seuss’s books have racial ‘undertones’[/caption]
Read Across America Day is held on March 2, which is also Seuss’s birthday, and is meant to encourage children to get into reading.
In Biden’s proclamation declaring Tuesday Read Across America Day, he made no mention of Seuss – even though his predecessors Donald Trump and Barack Obama both mentioned the author in their own declarations.
The White House hasn’t commented specifically on why the president chose not to mention the author.
Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Geisel, has been the face of the literary celebration for more than two decades since it was established in 1998.
Seuss penned childen’s classics like The Cat in the Hat[/caption]
Former First Lady Michelle Obama celebrates Read Across America Day in 2010[/caption]
But now the children’s author, who penned beloved tales like The Cat in the Hat and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, has been accused of including “strong racial undertones” in several of his books.
The Loudon County School District said they are leaving Seuss out of their celebrations, and instead shifting the “emphasis” towards books that are more “inclusive and diverse and reflective of our student community.”
A spokesman for the district, Wayde Byard, said they decided to move the celebration’s focus away from Seuss due to revelations in recent research.
“Given this research, and LCPS’s focus on equity and culturally responsive instruction, LCPS has provided guidance to schools in the past couple of years to not connect Read Across America Day with Dr Seuss’s birthday exclusively,” Byrad told The Washington Post.
The spokesman was reportedly referring to a 2019 report called The Cat is Out of the Bag: Orientalism, Anti-Blackness, and White Supremacy in Dr Seuss’s Children’s Books, which alleged racism in several Seuss stories.
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Biden‘s decision to not mention Seuss was met with quite a bit of backlash online.
Similar backlash erupted last week when toy maker Hasbro announced that they would be rebranding their beloved Mr Potato Head to just “Potato Head,” to be more gender inclusive.
The toy maker later walked back on the comments, and declared that Mr and Mrs Potato Head would still exist – the brand name was just axing the Mr.
