A children’s book about becoming a purple person. Sounds innocent enough, right? Or like a book about Prince fans? Well, no, it’s neither of those things. Critics are calling out The Good Place actress Kristen Bell for her new book, The World Needs More Purple People, for its racist undertones.
What’s the problem with her premise? That the book encourages kids to become “purple people” who look for “similarities before differences.” Bell’s intent, from what we can glean, is to help kids find common ground. But readers are, well, reading into the text, saying that it promotes color-blindness.
https://twitter.com/KristenBell/status/1272338291459649536?s=20
https://twitter.com/KristenBell/status/1272315922972241920?s=20
https://twitter.com/KristenBell/status/1272339996746240000?s=20
https://twitter.com/KristenBell/status/1272315922972241920?s=20
Here’s Bell’s explanation of the book:
Kristen Bell has written her first children's book 'The World Needs More Purple People' about a purple person, who looks for similarities before differences. pic.twitter.com/xKHe7J1gpG
— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) June 12, 2020
Bell claims she wrote the book two years ago, long before the murder of George Floyd and subsequent uprising for racial justice. At the very least, the publication of her book is bad timing. At worst, it’s a white woman’s tone-deaf manifesto about not seeing color.
Watch Jeremy Lin read the book on YouTube and decide for yourself.
Cover Photo: YouTube
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