National Reading Month began on Monday, and Tuesday is “Read Across America Day,” which is celebrated on the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, known to millions of children over many decades as Dr. Seuss.
Unlike past years, Dr. Seuss’s legacy won’t be celebrated so much in 2021. While Joe Biden’s predecessors have all acknowledged Dr. Seuss in their presidential proclamations for Read Across America Day, the current president refused to mention his name.
“March 2 is also the birthday of one of America’s revered wordsmiths. Theodor Seuss Geisel — or Dr. Seuss — used his incredible talent to instill in his most impressionable readers universal values we all hold dear,” read Barack Obama’s proclamation in 2016. “Through a prolific collection of stories, he made children see that reading is fun, and in the process, he emphasized respect for all; pushed us to accept ourselves for who we are; challenged preconceived notions and encouraged trying new things; and by example, taught us that we are limited by nothing but the range of our aspirations and the vibrancy of our imaginations.”
“In classrooms, libraries, and homes around our country, literature provides children with the inspiration to learn and grow,” read President Trump’s proclamation in 2020. “On this Read Across America Day, we recall the motivational words of Dr. Seuss—an American icon of literature—and impart his wisdom on our Nation’s young people: ‘You’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so…get on your way!'”
But the beloved children’s author is noticeably absent from Joe Biden’s proclamation, released on Monday.
Dr. Seuss’s books have, after many decades as staples of children’s literature, become controversial for their lack of wokeness and diversity. A 2019 study from the Conscious Kid’s Library (which is apparently a thing) and the University of California examined 50 Dr. Seuss books and painfully concluded that “Of the 2,240 (identified) human characters, there are forty-five characters of color representing 2% of the total number of human characters.”
I’m sure they are all cis-gendered as well. The horror!
Last week, a school district in Virginia ordered its teachers to avoid “connecting Read Across America Day with Dr. Seuss” over alleged “racial undertones” in his books. On Tuesday, Seuss’s publisher announced six of his books would no longer be published or sold.
But the Left doesn’t believe cancel culture exists.
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Matt Margolis is the author of Airborne: How The Liberal Media Weaponized The Coronavirus Against Donald Trump, and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter, Gab, Facebook, MeWe, Heroes, Rumble, and CloutHub.
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