Sesame Street Characters Addressed Racism in a Town Hall This Weekend

Over the weekend Sesame Street and CNN hosted a town hall to help address racism for kids. The 60-minute town hall featured Elmo’s dad Louie explaining the ongoing protests that have been happening across the country calling for racial justice. The town hall began with a crowd chanting “Black Lives Matter,” and Elmo telling his dad he doesn’t understand the protests happening outside the window. “Why are these people together,” Elmo asked.

Louie replied, ““They’re gathering together to protest. A protest is when people come together to show they are upset and disagree about something. They want to make others aware of the problem. Through protesting, people are able to share their feelings and work together to make things better.”

“They look upset,” Elmo then asked. “Are the protesters sad?”

“They are sad and upset and they have every right to be, Elmo. People are upset because racism is a huge problem in our country,” ” Louie said. “Racism is when people treat other people unfairly because of the way they look or the color of their skin.”

He continued, “Not all streets are like Sesame Street. On Sesame Street we all love and respect one another. 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. What we are seeing is people saying enough is enough. They want to end racism.”

Louie explains to Elmo that one way to help the cause is to start by learning and talking about the protests and racism, as well as taking action.

In another clip during the town hall, Abby Cadabby talked about “white privilege” and explained that she saw Big Bird being bullied for his size and yellow feathers. “One time, my friend Big Bird, he was bullied by some other birds because of his yellow feathers and because of how big he is,” she says. “It wasn’t kind and it wasn’t fair. I wouldn’t want to be treated like that, so I understand why he was upset.”

Jennifer Harvey, author of Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America and Beverly Daniel Tatum, author of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? also explained what white privilege really means during the special.

Also featured during the town hall was Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. “Keep being who you are. Keep loving each other. And when you see someone who’s doing something wrong or saying something wrong, say that it’s wrong,” she said during the town hall. “Make sure that when your friends sometimes do things they shouldn’t do that you say to them, that’s not right and you shouldn’t do it. And say it with love.”

To watch the full town hall and hear some of the questions asked by families, visit CNN.com.

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