Biden cancels Dr. Seuss from 'Read Across America' day after progressives complain about 'racial undertones'

A left-wing educators group called Learning for Justice is demanding that Dr. Seuss books be removed from the reading list due to alleged "racial undertones" that are not suitable for "culturally responsive" learning in his children's books.

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Ari Hoffman Seattle WA
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The Biden administration appears to have erased Dr. Seuss from "Read Across America Day," an annual celebration of reading established on March 2 in 1998, in honor of the legendary children's author’s birthday. The event was founded by the National Education Association, the nation’s largest labor union.

This year’s theme is "Create and Celebrate Diversity." A left-wing educators group called Learning for Justice is demanding that Dr. Seuss books be removed from the reading list due to alleged "racial undertones" that are not suitable for "culturally responsive" learning in his children's books. The educators group also told teachers to discuss Dr. Seuss’s "racist" past with older students.

A Virginia school district has followed the recommendation and ordered its schools to avoid "connecting Read Across America Day with Dr. Seuss."

President Joe Biden on Monday continued the presidential tradition in proclaiming Tuesday "Read Across America Day," but omitted any mention of Dr. Seuss in the proclamation.

According to Fox News, former President Barack Obama and former President Donald Trump both highlighted Theodor Seuss "Ted" Geisel's, also known as Dr. Seuss, contributions in their annual proclamations.

Loudoun County Public Schools announced that it will no longer recognize Dr. Seuss on his birthday. "Realizing that many schools continue to celebrate ‘Read Across America Day’ in partial recognition of Dr. Seuss' birthday, it is important for us to be cognizant of research that may challenge our practice in this regard," the announcement read.

"As we become more culturally responsive and racially conscious, all building leaders should know that in recent years there has been research revealing radical undertones in the books written and the illustrations drawn by Dr. Seuss."

Learning for Justice is the education arm of the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and has promoted radical views on teaching "social justice" and "racial justice" to students as young as five-years-old. Teachers were instructed to explain to students that racism appears in places and people they least expect.

According to the Daily Wire, "In a magazine article titled, "It's Time to Talk About Dr. Seuss," Learning for Justice cites a study from St. Catherine University that claims Dr. Seuss's children’s literature is rife with "orientalism, anti-blackness, and white supremacy." The study also claimed that Dr. Seuss had a history of publishing racist and anti-Semitic writings and cartoons, dating back to the 1920s when he was a student at Dartmouth College.

In the study, Learning for Justice alleged that many non-white characters in Dr. Seuss’s books were "'subservient' to the white characters in his book. It's also important to note that each of the non-white characters is male and that they are all 'presented in subservient, exotified, or dehumanized roles,' especially in relation to white characters." Learning for Justice also stated that supporters of Dr. Seuss’s work are "racial apologists" and are making excuses for why "bigotry doesn’t matter."

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