Sesame Workshop talks about race

Coming Together

Sesame Workshop, the non-profit educational organisation behind Sesame Street, is releasing new resources to support families in talking to their children about race and racism.

The new content, ABCs of Racial Literacy, comes as part of the organisation’s ongoing commitment to racial justice, an initiative called Coming Together, and is available online in English and Spanish.

It is designed to provide families with the tools they need to build racial literacy, to have open conversations with young children and to engage allies and advocates to become upstanders against racism.

“At Sesame Workshop, we look at every issue through the lens of a child. Children are not colour blind – not only do they first notice differences in race in infancy, but they also start forming their own sense of identity at a very young age,” said Dr Jeanette Betancourt, senior VP at Sesame Workshop.

“The ABCs of Racial Literacy is designed to foster open, age-appropriate conversations among families and support them in building racial literacy. By encouraging these much-needed conversations through Coming Together, we can help children build a positive sense of identity and value the identities of others.”

Kay Wilson Stallings, executive VP of creative and production at Sesame Workshop, added: “The work to dismantle racism begins by helping children understand what racism is and how it hurts and impacts people. Sadly, today’s announcement comes at a time of racial and social discord when many families are in need of support in talking to their children about racism.”