# And to Think I can't See it on Mulberry Street -- Six Seuss Books retired for racism

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-to-think-i-cant-see-it-on-mulberry-street-six-seuss-books-retired-for-racism/934113>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** books-writing-myths\
**Created:** [March 2, 2021, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-to-think-i-cant-see-it-on-mulberry-street-six-seuss-books-retired-for-racism/934113 "2021-03-02T14:09:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 21

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-to-think-i-cant-see-it-on-mulberry-street-six-seuss-books-retired-for-racism/934113/401 "2021-04-11T18:52:03Z")

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> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> What’s the racist poem? Your link doesn’t say

There is one poem called “Cape Coloured Batman”. I’m finding references to it, but not the full text.

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-to-think-i-cant-see-it-on-mulberry-street-six-seuss-books-retired-for-racism/934113/402 "2021-04-11T19:10:44Z")

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That’s odd - for me, the link goes to the Google Books preview that has the full poem (it’s not that long).

But perhaps a few lines will prove illustrative:

“This is the man the Empires made  
From lesser breeds, the child of Trade  
Left without hope in History’s shade;  
Shouldered aside into any old place,  
Damned from birth by the great disgrace,  
A touch of the tar-brush in his face”

It’s a poem about Butler finding his batman drunk under a tree:

Nelson, my batman, the bastard, drunk.

Note that bastard here isn’t an ordinary pejorative, but a racist epithet.

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