Stop ruining my childhood! Children literature classics are coming under fire for their (not so) hidden racism and people are questioning if they should be read to today’s kids.
OK, fine, parents start reading the original Grimm violent fairytales and not the sweet innocent versions of today. That’ll open the eyes (and nightmares) of your kids.
Now excuse me I’m gonna go watch the original Tom & Jerry cartoons – PB/TK
The Hidden (and Not-So-Hidden) Racism In Kids’ Lit – By Sarah Begley / July 27 2017
Revisiting a favorite children’s book packs a powerful emotional punch. For many mothers and fathers, sharing the books their parents read to them with their own kids, decades later, is one of the highlights of the early years. But oftentimes stories and illustrations that seemed benign in one era become problematic as social mores change.
In his new book, Was the Cat in the Hat Black? The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature, and the Need for Diverse Books, Philip Nel studies the paradox of stories that are meant to nurture but can also do harm. An English professor at Kansas State University, Nel has probed racism in kids’ books in his classes and in previous books, and he uses this volume to highlight how dozens of beloved picture and chapter books leave negative messages in children’s minds. “No one wants to admit to enjoying something or liking something that perpetuates racial stereotypes. But we do, because a book can be beautiful and racist, a book can be a classic and racist, a book can be really pleasurable and also really racist.” For instance, one of Nel’s personal favorites, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, has a big problem in the Oompa Loompas. The characters, which were depicted in early editions as African pygmies, are portrayed as happy slaves, content to leave their native land behind and toil in a factory. Especially for children who are descendants of slaves, such messages can have a pernicious effect on how they interpret their value in the world.
Continue to time.com article: http://time.com/4876091/racism-in-kids-lit/?xid=homepage
