“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," Loudoun County Schools said in an announcement reported by the Daily Wire.”
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," the school district
continued.
Learning for Justice, a liberal education advocacy group, was reportedly behind the pressure campaign against the celebrated children's author. The organization pegs itself as a group that seeks "to uphold the mission" of the
left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center, according to their
website.
Learning for Justice cited a study by St. Catherine University that claimed Dr. Seuss’s books are covered with "orientalism, anti-Blackness and White supremacy" in a
magazine article they released.
The group also claimed that the characters who were not White in the books were "subservient" to White characters.
This isn’t the first time that Dr. Seuss has been targeted for cancellation.
Former first lady Melania Trump
fired back at a Massachusetts elementary school librarian in 2017 who claimed the illustrations in Dr. Seuss’s books — usually cartoon animals or fantastical creatures — were examples of "racist propaganda."