laura ingalls wilder name removed

The politically correct police have claimed another scalp. This time, their target isn’t even here to defend herself. Many of us grew up reading about Laura Ingalls Wilder’s childhood on the prairie. But modern day liberals want to sanitize this experience from early reading by blackballing the beloved author because they believe she was racist.

A division of the American Library Association voted unanimously to change the name of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal to the Children’s Literature Legacy Award because they see racist undertones in her books. The award was established in 1954 to honor “an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.”

Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) says Wilder’s “stereotypical attitudes” are at fault. They expect a 19th-century author to live up to their 21st century. This impossible feat is only preventing people from learning about our past and the reality that existed decades or centuries prior.

“This decision was made in consideration of the fact that Wilder’s legacy, as represented by her body of work, includes expressions of stereotypical attitudes inconsistent with ALSC’s core values of inclusiveness, integrity and respect, and responsiveness,” the Association for Library Service to Children said in a statement after unanimously giving  the beloved child author the boot.

These leftists believe the eight books Wilder wrote are not inclusive. But, that was the reality of the time in which she wrote them. Wilder, who lived until 1957, recognized that times and verbiage had changed. She even apologized for writing “no people, only Indians” and amended that part of her book to read “no settlers, only Indians.” Even that was not good enough for these leftists who demand we live in a bubble to protect us from the past. Sanitizing history does us all a disservice.

Political correctness took down the Boy Scouts. It is taking aim and Columbus Day. Now, it is trying to sanitize Laura Ingalls Wilder from reading lists.

Source: The Guardian

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