Sesame Street Anti Racism Special: Another Difficult Issue Tackled?

Praised for discussing difficult issues in a frank manner to kids since it set-up shop back in 1969, has Sesame Street finally tackled the difficult issue of racism?

By: Ringo Bones

In the wake of the death of George Floyd due to police brutality and a renewed Black Lives Matter protest amid the dangers of an ongoing pandemic, most adults who saw the special said that it is quite telling that a children’s show explained racism better than most adults. The CNN and Sesame Street anti racism town hall special hosted by Van Jones could be the children’s educational show’s landmark moment for the show’s half a century of programming.

The show opens with Elmo’s dad Louie – both Sesame Street characters – were talking about the importance of the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests and on why not all streets are like Sesame Street which is an idyll of equality during half a century of the show’s existence. Some say, it is high time that the difficult issue of racism will be discussed frankly to kids – especially in the largely racist climate of Trump’s America.

Sadder still, Sesame Street fans old enough to see the show when it first aired back in 1969 are probably old enough to remember the race riots in the wake of the assassination Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a year before. Not to mention the race riots in the wake of the acquittal of police officers involved in the beating of Rodney King – despite the existence of video evidence – back in 1992. Maybe the difficult conversation is now a necessity about systemic racism all around us.

The Sesame Street COVID 19 Special: Most Difficult Issue Tackled So Far?

Given that what the scientific community knows about the COVID 19 threat is still evolving, is this the “most difficult issue” being discussed by Sesame Street to date?

By: Ringo Bones

The COVID 19 pandemic is probably one of the most difficult issues confronting humanity to date that since the global lockdown, the folks at the Children’s Television Workshop had worked in conjunction with CNN already made two COVID 19 Sesame Street specials. Even though Sesame Street had made episode tackling difficult social issues since it started back in 1969 ranging from LGBT issues to parents not around due to the ongoing War on Terror during the first few years of the 21^st Century, it seems that social distancing could be the most difficult issue that kids around the world will be confronting and, fortunately, Sesame Street once again will allay the fears experienced by kids with regards to the COVID 19 pandemic.

With experts like Dr. Sanjay Gupta explaining why social distancing is necessary to slow down the spread of the virus before an effective vaccine is found, the two specials managed to teach the kids to adapt to the so-called “new normal”. Let’s just hope that the latest generation of Sesame Street’s fans will be the beneficiaries of an effective coronavirus vaccine.