Posted on 09/28/2017 7:30:03 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Earlier this month First Lady Melania Trump celebrated National Read a Book Day by selecting some children’s books and sending them to one school in each state. Mrs. Trump selected Dr. Seuss’ Oh, the Places You’ll Go! because it was, “one of her personal favorites that she and her son have read together over and over.” Other books included in the shipment to schools in each state included One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and Green Eggs and Ham among several others.
Tuesday, the librarian at Cambridgeport Elementary School in Massachusetts wrote a response which informed the First Lady the school would be rejecting the books, calling them “racist propaganda.”
My students were interested in reading your enclosed letter and impressed with the beautiful bookplates with your name and the indelible White House stamp, however, we will not be keeping the titles for our collection. I’d like to respectfully offer my explanation…
Yearly per-pupil spending in Cambridge is well over $20,000; our city’s values are such that given a HUGE range in the socioeconomic status of our residents, we believe that each and every child deserves the best free education possible and are working hard to make that a reality (most classrooms maintain a 60/40 split between free/reduced lunch and paid lunch). This offers our Title I school and the district a lot of privilege and room for programming and pedagogy to foster “high standards of excellence.” Even so, we still struggle to close the achievement gap, retain teachers of color, and dismantle the systemic white supremacy in our institution. But hell, we test well! And in the end, it appears that data — and not children — are what matters…
Another fact that many people are unaware of is that Dr. Seuss’s illustrations are steeped in racist propaganda, caricatures, and harmful stereotypes. Open one of his books (If I Ran a Zoo or And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, for example), and you’ll see the racist mockery in his art. Grace Hwang Lynch’s School Library Journal article, “Is the Cat in the Hat Racist? Read Across America Shifts Away from Dr. Seuss and Toward Diverse Books,” reports on Katie Ishizuka’s work analyzing the minstrel characteristics and trope nature of Seuss’s characters. Scholar Philip Nel’s new book, Was the Cat in the Hat Black? The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature, and the Need for Diverse Books, further explores and shines a spotlight on the systemic racism and oppression in education and literature.
I am honored that you recognized my students and our school. I can think of no better gift for children than books; it was a wonderful gesture, if one that could have been better thought out. Books can be a powerful way to learn about and experience the world around us; they help build empathy and understanding. In return, I’m attaching a list of ten books (it’s the librarian in me) that I hope will offer you a window into the lives of the many children affected by the policies of your husband’s administration.
For all of the effort to remain civil, it’s pretty clear the rejection of the books is intended as a big middle finger to the First Lady, the president, the Secretary of Education and of course Dr. Seuss. Unfortunately for Ms. Soeiro, she had no right to reject the books in the first place. From CBS News:
The Cambridge school system says the opinions in the editorial do not represent the district and released a statement, saying “the employee was not authorized to accept or reject donated books on behalf of the school or school district.”
“We have counseled the employee on all relevant policies, including the policy against public resources being used for political purposes,” the district said.
As for Dr. Seuss being racist propaganda, I’m attaching a list of 6 video clips Ms. Soeiro should probably watch (it’s the blogger in me) that I hope will enlighten her. It turns out both Barack and Michelle Obama were quite fond of Dr. Seuss during their tenure in the White House. “This is one of the classics, a great book,” President Obama said of Green Eggs and Ham in 2010:
After President Obama was done First Lady Michelle Obama took over with a reading of another Seuss classic:
Here’s Michelle Obama celebrating Dr. Seuss at the Library of Congress in 2011 by reading Green Eggs and Ham:
Here in April 2013 is Michelle Obama’s mother reading One Fish, Two Fish on the White House lawn:
Here again is former First Lady Michelle Obama greeting the Cat in the Hat at a White House event in 2015:
And finally, here’s President Obama in April 2015, telling a group of interns that all of the important lessons in life are found in Dr. Seuss:
So I’m not suggesting that the librarian at Cambridgeport Elementary School is a bad person with no sense of perspective, only that her open letter to the First Lady was, shall we say, badly thought out.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Yep, they want to delegitimize the classical liberalism of our founding by painting it as immoral. The left knows full well that our Constitution is their enemy.
Despite being able to compose English sentences, I’m very concerned about her mental capacity and ability to function in society. I propose that for everyone’s safety, she be placed in a padded room.
I was teaching econ at a university when Chavez was organizing the farm workers. McGovern was running for President and said he was going to boycott lettuce until the union got its demands. One of my colleagues, a sociology prof, came into my office saying: “Did you see McGovern’s boycotting lettuce to help Chavez?”
Me: “Exactly the wrong thing to do.”
Her:”Why?”
Me: “If the boycott is successful, what will happen to the price of lettuce?”
Her: “It will do down.”
Me: “And what did you just do to the income the owner has to give a wage increase?”
Her: Crickets...
Me: “Now, instead, suppose McGovern had said ‘I’m going to eat five salads a day until this strike is settled!’ What would happen to the demand for lettuce?”
Her: “It would rise and prices would go up.”
Me: “And what just happened to the cost to the owner of not meeting their demands?”
Her: “It would go up.”
Me: “And what would the higher price do to the ability of the owner to pay a higher wage?”
Her: “WELL, THAT MAY BE BUT I DON’T BELIEVE IT!!” and she would stomp out of my office.
Liberals hate the facts when they don’t work for them.
Librarian Barbie
Expect to find a semi-hidden message in works of literature written by Marxist-Leninists, whether it’s for children or adults. It’s all propaganda meant to further the cause.
The tats on her legs look like ass.
The irony is that blacks separating themselves reimpose the same kind of separation that existed under Jim Crow. No matter what they insist on calling it.
The only way a communist can write a good children’s book is for said communist to abandon communistic principles. Therefore, it’s impossible for a communist to do.
I take it this “librarian,” for all her professed expertise on Dr. Seuss, is unfamiliar with “The Sneetches.”
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