Muppets learn about race, young cooks show off global cuisines, and a cuban-American girl seeks
election, as children’s shows explore identity and diversity
Sesame Street has always been great at introducing children to difficult subjects. When cast member Will Lee died in 1982, it dedicated a show to exploring the notion of grief. In 2019, it told the story of Karli, a green Muppet whose mother was struggling with opioid addiction. And now it is explicitly teaching kids to dismantle racism.
A new three-minute Sesame Street clip entitled Explaining Race debuted this week. In it, two African-American Muppets – Wes, a five-year-old, and his father Elijah – engage Elmo in a discussion about identity. At one point the father gestures to an autumn tree and says: “When people of all colours come together, we stand strong, like this tree.” It’s hoped that Wes and Elijah will be used to discuss race and
racism in a more direct way than Sesame Street has done in the past.