Elmo's father Louie explained that people are saying "enough is enough".
Sesame Street is a TV show that goes hand in hand with nostalgia for many of us. In fact the show probably introduced many of you to numbers and colours for the first time. Big Bird was always a comforting sight on our television screens. This weekend we learned that the much loved show is the gift that keeps on giving. Sesame Street partnered with CNN to present a very special family show about racism.
According to CNN the purpose of the special townhall episode was to address racism. The sixty minute show was called "Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism. A CNN/Sesame Street Town Hall for Kids and Families" and it aired on Saturday 6th June on the popular CNN network. It was moderated by Van Jones, CNN's political commentator.
The show featured the popular character Elmo who along with his father helped unpack the topic of racism and inform families about a number of different areas. Throughout the show three year old Elmo asks questions about protests, people and everything in between. Elmo's father does a great job of explaining it in a child friendly way.
" Racism is when people treat other people unfairly because of the way they look or the color of their skin"
Louie, Elmo's father, goes on to explain the reason behind people protesting right now. He explains to Elmo that protests are a representation of people saying "enough is enough". He uses Sesame Street as an example saying that not all streets are like Sesame Street and that
" Across the country, people of color, especially in the black community, are being treated unfairly because of how they look, their culture, race and who they are. "
As part of the hour long special the mayor of Atlanta Keisha Bottoms handled some of the more challenging topics. In a segment devoted to answering questions from children and their parents she spoke about how parents could best explain protests to young children in an appropriate way.
CNN's partnership with Sesame Street also included a number of references to other characters on the show. In one part Abby Cadabby recalled one time that Big Bird was made fun of because of her yellow feathers and how it wasn't very fair at all.
You can watch the full show here.
