Laura Carpenter
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion/White Privilege Study in Children's Books
March 19th, 2021
Examples of White Privilege in Children's Materials
>> 6 Dr. Seuss books won’t be published for racist images
Seuss, a white man, initially did not see his work as racist. He had not had to deal with inequity or discrimination due to his skin color and his location in the U.S., which historically centers whiteness.
Congressional Republicans, White Privilege, and Dr. Seuss
In current events, publishers are recognizing that Dr. Seuss picture books contain racist imagery, and are stopping publication of 6 titles for that reason.
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Congress has currently been working on legislation to help pull America out of the massive hole it is in due to Covid-19.
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Instead of focusing on important legislation, Republicans in congress have been fixating on how upset they are that this racist imagery will not continue to be in print, and are diverting their energy to that.
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In the current, 117th iteration of congress, approximately 90% of the Republican representatives are white.
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This is a horrendous and horrifying example of white privilege.
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These white congressional Republicans are not focusing on helping those affected by the pandemic, which due to systemic racism and rampant inequity are largely People of Color, and are showing absolutely zero awareness or concern about how racist imagery affects People of Color.
Another example of white privilege in children's books, are the startling representation statistics.
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As explained in McIntosh's article, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, a white person can easily find representation of themselves in children's books. That is white privilege.
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In 2018, 50% of characters in children's books were white.
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27% of characters were either animals or inanimate objects.
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Inanimate objects or animals had a better chance of being a character in a children's book than American Indian/First Nation, Latinx, African/African American, and Asian Pacific Islander/Asian Pacific American children combined. That is truly horrifying.
