“Okay, I’m standing up,” Big Bird said, his feathery, bright yellow head rising out of frame to the tune of a slide whistle. CNN commentator Van Jones and anchor Erica Hill corrected Sesame Street’s wide-eyed eight-foot canary, explaining they weren't going to literally stand up. They would, however, be fielding questions and listening to experts during a program called Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism. In times like these, we’ll take any joke we can get.
Highlights of the program included Elmo’s father Louie showing off the sign he planned to bring to a demonstration, then calmly answering the question “racism? What’s that?”
“Racism is when people treat other people unfairly because of the way they look or the color of their skin,” the red monster muppet explained to his son.
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Atlanta’s Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms discussed what to do when fielding questions from children, and implored parents to listen as much as to talk.
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CNN then turned it over to families, especially kids, who had a chance to ask their questions. “I thought police were supposed to keep us safe?” a young girl named Marissa, puzzled by the violence at demonstrations, asked former Philadelphia Police Chief Charles Ramsey.
“Nana used to protest in the 1960s,” a little boy named Xavier said. “Why do we have to do this again and again and again?” (Sesame Street’s Maria and Gordon agreed this was a good question.)
To the delight of social media, a six-year-old named Kyle said he wanted to be a neurosurgeon when he grew up, and wondered if he could operate on racist brains to change them.
Saturday’s broadcast came less than two months after a Sesame Street/CNN town hall about coronavirus awareness. The entire program is available to stream.
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