It might be a good idea to look at all his cartoons. (http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dspolitic/Fram…) Its easy to look back now since the US won, but, I don't think that was clear at the time. I'm sure it was a scary time. Some of that fear was justified, other expressions of that fear clearly wasn't, and some of that fear was exploited by others who wanted to get rid of the Japanese/Japanese American population from the West Coast for a long time before WWII. And, Dr. Seuss, not being from the West Coast (he only moved to California after the war) and who probably had little contact with any Japanese/Japanese Americans might not have been aware of the larger social forces driving racism against Japanese Americans on the west coast — he was probably more the one being influenced than the influencer in this case. You state “like many people of his day” But, did anyone of non-Japanese decent stand up to oppose these attitudes? Isn't passively doing nothing in the face of racism if you know its wrong the bigger evil? If so, wouldn't you have to condemn virtually everyone living in the United States during WWII just like you do Dr. Seuss.

I trying not to make a judgement on your ideas nor your decisions on how to raise your children, as it isn't my place to say one way or the other, and your conclusion is justifiable. However, there is a larger context involved — not the “Japanese attacked the US, so how can you blame them,” but a larger history of migration, racism, regionalism, exploitation, fear, and ignorance that led otherwise progressive individuals during WWII such as Dr. Seuss to draw such cartoons.

(Also, German/German Americans in WWII might not have had it as bad as Japanese/Japanese Americans, anti-German sentiment ran pretty high during World War I. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_American#Wo… for example and, if you haven't read it, John Dwyer's War without Mercy talks deeper about the development of anti-Japanese feelings in America and anti-American feelings in Japan and how they were expressed in the media of both countries.)

One thing I do have to say is this: If we had to reject all the art and thought of all past racists, well, we wouldn't have much left from the past to read. For example, one of my favorite philosophers, David Hume, let his empiricism out the window for the sake of a private racism. TS Eliot was an antisemite. Charles Darwin arguably said some racist things (although he was progressive for his time). And many of those American founding fathers that USans love to quote for their exalting of liberty? Well, we all know they kept slaves in the backyard, and, well, they didn't exactly pick those slaves based on the content of their character. It's a stain on them all.

I think it is possible, though difficult, to separate the man's work from, well, the man's other work (and by extension, from the man). In all probability, Dr. Seuss's books, which include some excellent parables against racism, have produced more anti-racist enlightenment in the current generation than his cartoons added to the bigotry of the “Greatest” generation.

While I personally would never keep his books from kids, I cannot begrudge or fault your decision there.

(After reading over what I wrote, I feel bad that my examples of historical racism are more African-America focused, but that's my education on the subject. When it comes to the history of anti-Asian-Americanism, I don't know about much more than the WWII stuff, although I'm sure there's a lot more. I know there's a lot in the present.)