Happy Birthday to the Muppets—Dec. 18, 2009

When my children were small, I happily parked them in front of Sesame Street, and watched with them from time to time. We were all enchanted by the gentle world of Big Bird, Oscar, Gordon, Mr. Hooper (my husband and I cried when he died!), Maria, and the rest of the multi-ethnic, multi-generational, multi-species ensemble.

I was very glad my girls were learning about "the letter K," "in and out" and "agua" for water. I was even happier that some of their Sesame Street human friends didn’t look like their father, didn’t look like me, and that our daughters embraced them whole-heartedly. I wondered if other children, in other families, were getting the same message despite any biases, conscious or otherwise that we, their parents, might carry? Were those children growing up "color-blind" too?

It was young people who first caught the Obama magic and turned his campaign into a movement. I thought it was notable that so many older Obama activists were encouraged by their children to support this unique candidate.  Did those kids grow up watching Sesame Street? I betcha!

A colleague recently said she was happy that for her five year old, an African American president would never seem unusual. When they were small, my daughters thought that a world where an African American man, a Hispanic woman, a large yellow bird and an elderly Jewish shopkeeper could all happily hang out together was the norm. As they got older, they learned otherwise, but the core vision of Sesame Street never left them, and America is a better place for it. 

Sesame Street celebrated its fortieth birthday November 10. With guest appearances by Kofi Annan and Michelle Obama and an HIV positive muppet*, it is still successfully bringing its message—that we’re all equal and deserving of respect—to the country’s youngest generation.

Happy birthday, Big Bird. And, thanks, Jim Henson! How about a fist bump with the frog?

*Kami, the world's first HIV-positive Sesame Street muppet, appears on South Africa's version of the famous U.S. television series.

Cherry Muse

President
Public Conversations Project

December 18, 2009