Not here. Not there. Not anywhere.

I had a plethora of books growing up. They lined every shelf in my bedroom and there was always one that sat on my side table ready for me to crack open at night. As a young pre-teen I had everything from Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder to almost every book from the Goosebumps collection by R.L. Stine. At an even earlier age, my collection consisted of mostly Dr. Seuss books. As I grew older, authors like Mary Higgins Clark and Stephen King replaced those prior. But back to when I was younger; Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! was a personal favorite of mine along with The Lorax, and don’t forget the yearly Christmas tradition of growing up with The Grinch playing on repeat. My love for Dr. Seuss began with his creative illustrations and his use of rhyme. Eventually, over time, I grew to appreciate the life lessons and morals found in each one. Horton Hears a Who! teaches children that no one is too small to make a difference, and The Lorax teaches that there are consequences to our actions and to stand up for what is right (not to mention the importance of taking care of our environment).

Because of the nostalgia that Dr. Seuss stirs up in me, the following news hit like a blow to the stomach: Six of Dr. Seuss’ books were recently banned. Why? Racist imagery and undertones that led Dr. Seuss Enterprises to stop further publication of the following six titles: And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, If I Ran the Zoo, McElligot’s Pool, On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super! and The Cat’s Quizzer

There are more of his books that also contain racist imagery, but for now these are the only ones banned. Curious - I went online to see for myself; the racism and prejudice was as clear as day. Even though I remember the above titles from when I was little, I was too young at that age to even begin to tell you what racism was. How did I not see it when it was blatantly right in front me all these years? That goes to show how innocent the mind of a child is, and how this probably helped influence many children at an early age to become racist.

Many psychologists agree that racism is a learned behavior as early as three years old, and according to an article on https://sites.psu.edu/aspsy/2017/03/25/racism-is-learned-at-an-early-age/, “Exposure to diversity throughout their lifespan will express that there are more important qualities that define someone other than the color of their skin, physical features, expressions, ethnicity, or gender.” Had growing up with such a culturally diverse military background, and living overseas the majority of my adolescence, helped steer me away from becoming a racist? More than likely.

How can someone this in-tune with portraying the importance of caring for one another, also be such a bigot? Although the racism in many of his books is clear to me now, there is still one positive thing that I can take away from his writings and that is that we have a responsibility to each other – especially to those without a voice and to help those less powerful than ourselves. Sometimes, we should look past the negative qualities in people and try to make note of all the good they have done. While there is no chance that I will buy the above books for any of my future grandkids, I will however pass down to them all the positive life-lessons he helped me, and many others, to learn.