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Dr. Seuss, while celebrated for his children's books, also created racist illustrations that led to the discontinuation of some titles. The document argues against banning books, emphasizing the importance of diverse perspectives and the value of discussing difficult topics, as exemplified by Toni Morrison's 'Beloved.' It advocates for parental choice in content consumption while suggesting that professional critiques should guide content judgments rather than personal preferences.

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7 views3 pages

Speech Final Draft

Dr. Seuss, while celebrated for his children's books, also created racist illustrations that led to the discontinuation of some titles. The document argues against banning books, emphasizing the importance of diverse perspectives and the value of discussing difficult topics, as exemplified by Toni Morrison's 'Beloved.' It advocates for parental choice in content consumption while suggesting that professional critiques should guide content judgments rather than personal preferences.

Uploaded by

r2v77by4n8
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Skyler Robinson

Dr. Seuss was known for his colorful children’s books. Seuss’s books were easily

recognizable with a distinctive cartoon style which usually included a lighthearted story that

rhymed. Most of us grew up with them. Barack Obama read the author’s titles in 2010 and

Melania Trump gifted a school in Cambridge, Massachusetts with Dr. Seuss books in 2017, both

for Read Across America Day (Associated and Crane). But in spite of that, he also created racist

illustrations and political cartoons in the 1900s. These books would make fun or portray Asian

and Black Americans in an unpleasant way, as a result the Dr. Seuss Enterprise L.P. discontinued

six of the books which had such content (Matano, Anastasia). Seuss’s books encourage creativity

from young children, but some of them are disrespectful to certain races and they teach

unpleasant views of people. Instead, children should be taught that diversity is a good thing and

people should not be judged by their race. Books should not be banned, but there are topics that

are taken too far, therefore people should be aware and take into account the age of the audience.

Firstly, parents should be allowed to determine the content that their own child consumes,

however they should not be allowed to decide what others are exposed to (“Banned Books Pros

and Cons - Top Arguments for and Against”). Instead, content judgments should be determined

by professional critiques rather than personal preferences. During the 1982 Supreme Court ruling

on Board of Education vs. Pico Justice William Brennan mentioned that taking away access to

books from libraries violates a student’s First Amendment rights and school boards should not be

able to remove content because of a disagreement. Furthermore, banning books does “not give

parents the freedom to parent, but instead [attacks] freedom of thought” (Hoffman).

Additionally, books that are viewed as “objectionable” are still valuable. For example,

“Beloved” by Toni Morrison is about a former slave who, out of pressure, was forced to choose
between a life of suffering for her child or living in peace with the death of her child. She chose

to commit infanticide, the killing of an infant. The book was based on a true event in history

where Margaret Garner killed her daughter because she feared she would also become a slave.

The author’s novel follows the ghost of the child, named Beloved, and their relationship with her

mother who murdered her. The story displays the horrors of slavery and the events that took

place before the Civil War. Although there is harsh content, such as racial slurs, violence, and

drug use, there are lessons to be learned about the unfortunate reality of oppression in history. In

2022, more than 2,500 books were challenged, 1,858 in 2021, and 566 in 2019; there is an

obvious increase. Banning books from libraries and schools takes away direct access from

communities. Without access to certain books there is missing knowledge that could be found

interesting or important about history. The opposition argues that books discussing material that

is considered to be “mature” are not appropriate for certain ages (Reichbach, Sean). Books are

made for certain age groups; there are restrictions and age-specific recommendations set in place

with the purpose of being understood by those groups.

The line in which things are considered inappropriate or unsuitable should move with the

development of society, but the criteria should remain relatively the same. The views of society

are almost always progressing. For example, LGBTQ+ topics were rarely discussed in the early

and mid 1900s but are now normalized with many people aware of its meaning. Also, racism and

other discriminatory topics were more common and normalized by society during that time,

while it is rejected by most of society today. Another change in life is technological

advancements. In environments where certain books gather concern that there are measures

taken by higher authorities in which they establish age restrictions instead of bans. For instance,
“Beloved” has a fifth grade Lexile reading level, but most parents from Common Sense Media

argue that the book should be for 16 year olds and above and consider it an adult book (Clark).

People continue to challenge books with topics that they do not agree with or are

considered socially advanced for certain ages. Imagine you are assigned a school-wide summer

reading assignment as a high schooler, but suddenly the assigned book is banned by the principal

because of parent complaints about a few swear words. Not only are you prohibited from doing

your assignment but you’re blocked from what could be an interesting story. But, with enough

advocacy to the school, there could be an understanding by others of why it is wrong to censor a

book with non severe reasoning.

Books should not be removed from school and public libraries because topics are

disagreed upon. Rather, books should be judged by the potential danger and harm they may bring

to its audiences according to professionals. If books are challenged I encourage you to advocate

against it and speak up against what you believe is wrong.

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