For those of you who aren’t aware, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Rankin/Bass Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer holiday special which airs annually on CBS. It’s a holiday special that I’ve always found unsettling.

I attended Catholic school between the third and the fifth grade and with the exception of two Asian students, I was the only POC in our entire class. Let’s just say at 8 years old I received a crash course in racism and we’re going to leave it at that.

Each year we would watch the animated classic of Rudolph. There was always something disturbing about the story. It wasn’t until last year when I came to the epiphany that the tale is a metaphor for minority plight.

Continue reading “Reading Past Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer“