Interesting rant. It made me think. Well, particularly about the intersection of Mein Kampf and The Kat in das Hat, err, The Cat in the Hat.
I was re-reading one of my favorite books the other day, Nancy Mitford's "The Pursuit of Love." It's a distillation of snobbery, written from the point of view of a distinctly British upper class between the wars persona, yet it is so much more than that. It's also incomparably witty and eccentric.
And then I came upon a sentence containing a throw-away reference which had apparently made no impression on me until now, a reference in which the narrator (thinly disguised Nancy Mitford) mentions a nursery rhyme, calling it "ten little niggers."
And my heart sank. There's just no way around it. You can say that Mitford was merely mentioning a nursery rhyme, that there was no malice behind it, but embedded in that phrase is a whole sordid history of British imperialism and paternalism, an assumption of white supremacy, and the means by which these assumptions are passed on to a new generation.
It's still a great read, for an adult, but what was once for me a mouthful of frothy trifle now has a definite aftertaste of ashes. That one word has tainted the whole experience for me.
I think there's a huge difference between Mein Kampf (historical document) and a Dr Seuss book (meant for children). The publishers had a rethink, noted that some of the books were of dubious merit, and dropped them from the roster. Adults can read Mein Kampf and know why they're reading it. A child absorbs what she is given. "Careful the things you say, children will listen," as Stephen Sondheim put it.
Sure, it's up to parents to vet their kids' reading. Children are going to come up against racism and racist attitudes, and the talks about this might as well be prompted by what they read. I don't really see a lot of book burning going on, and I don't think that's what's being suggested as a solution.
I take your rant as made in good faith, but it comes perilously close to e.g., those guys wailing about "political correctness" destroying our freedom, when all we're talking about is the attempt to use respectful language and to see those we've marginalized as worthy of the same dignity as everyone else.
As for statues: As we evolve, we can realize that we don't want to maintain statues honoring racists, and that to do so is to tell a very white version of history. I think it's fine, correction, imperative, that we tell the truth, and sooner the better. We can choose what books we read; but what's in the public square makes a very inescapable statement, a statement that can either begin a process of healing and reparation, or continue to affront, demean, and harm.
DR
