Dr. Seuss and Dr. West

Dr. Seuss, Dr. Cornel West, and the person formerly known as Mr. Potato Head are much in the news this week. All have been canceled.

 As has been widely reported, the estate of Dr. Seuss, aka Theodore Geisel, has ceased publishing six of his less successful titles due to their racist images and other allusions to gender or ethnicity deemed offensive by the estate.  Hasbro announced the dropping of “Mr.” as a nod to gender inclusivity.  From now on you can have your Potato Head any old gender you want.  Cornel West, self-described bluesman, revolutionary, public intellectual and esteemed Black scholar, has been denied tenure at Harvard.

The confluence of these stories brought back a delightful memory.

Several years ago I taught a class at Dartmouth College, home to the Geisel School of Medicine.  As I ambled toward the classroom building, West and a small group of students came by.  I knew he was speaking later in the afternoon and my wife and I planned to attend after I finished my class.  

I casually greeted him and said I was looking forward to his talk.  He grasped my hand and said warmly, “We’re going for coffee, brother, would you like to join?”  I declined and said I had to teach in a few minutes.  He inquired about the nature of my class - progressive education and social justice - and he then said, “My brother!  I wish I could come to your class but I promised some time for these fine brothers and sisters.”  

The uproar over the Dr. Seuss decision has been deafening, particularly from the political right.  “Cancel culture!!!”  “Political correctness run amok!!”  The fact that thousands of books are discontinued every year didn’t dissuade the conservative commentariat from another opportunity to “own the libs.”

Of course any reasonably well-informed person knew it was not the “libs” who canceled the Seuss books, but the owners of the intellectual rights, who can do whatever they wish.  Given Geisel’s prodigious output, these minor titles will not be missed.

There are sincere beliefs on both sides of the broad topic of racist, misogynist and offensive images and language in all art forms - to include the artists themselves.  Many argue, convincingly in my view, that historic context is critical.  Social progress has enlightened us and much of today’s rightful outrage was yesteryear’s ho hum.   If we censor too vigorously, we lose both the art and the contemporary opportunity for meaningful analysis.   I would strenuously err on the side of unvarnished truth in education.  

But not for small children.  They can’t engage in critical deconstruction of subtle racist depictions.  Those images begin the accumulation of subconscious racist assumptions that may never fully dissipate.  Anyone who has engaged in real ant-racist  work, especially in terms of implicit bias, knows what a nasty web of subconscious bigotry has been woven throughout many years of unexamined white privilege.

The hypocrisy of conservative “cancel callouts” is breathtaking.  Their hero, the former president, told the NFL to fire any player who didn’t stand for the anthem.  “Get those bastards out of the country right now . . .”  If anyone has ever been canceled  he is Colin Kaepernick. 

If any humans have been canceled, they are the children locked in cages by a “conservative” administration.  More than 253 bills in 43 states seek to suppress voting, primarily in communities of color.  It is hard to be canceled more profoundly than to lose the right to vote.  The righteous political right has tried since Jim Crow to cancel rights for Black folks.  The religious right cancels the very human legitimacy of the LGTBQIA+ community.  They cancel women’s rights to reproductive autonomy.  But they really love Dr. Seuss.

As to the vibrant West, his legitimacy as a scholar is being canceled by the white-dominant hierarchy at Harvard.  Only 4.8% of Harvard’s faculty is Black or African-American.  If you exclude the members of the African and African-American Studies program, Harvard’s faculty photo would look like a Proud Boys convention, but with more tweed jackets.  Perhaps Dr. West makes them uncomfortable because of the black cemetery suit he wears as a reminder of how fragile life is for an unrepentant, unapologetic, unafraid Black man who speaks prophetic truth to protective power.

His talk was erudite, electrifying, provocative and spellbinding.   I guess that’s just a bit too threatening for the President and Fellows of Harvard.