The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal Volume 2 Issue 1 Spring 2021 Article 29 2021 An Upstander Is a Person in Your Neighborhood: Children, Sesame Street, and Race in 2020 Gemma Yoo Yale University Follow this and additional works at: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/yurj Part of the Education Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Yoo, Gemma (2021) "An Upstander Is a Person in Your Neighborhood: Children, Sesame Street, and Race in 2020," The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 2 : Iss. 1 , Article 29. Available at: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/yurj/vol2/iss1/29 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal by an authorized editor of EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Yoo: Children, Sesame Street, andYoo Race | in Education 2020 Studies and Critical Race Theory An Upstander Is a Person in Your Neighborhood: Chil- dren, Sesame Street, and Race in 2020 By Gemma Yoo1 1Yale University ABSTRACT Educational children’s media, such as the program Sesame Street, may be the most accessible for- mat for teaching young children about race and racism in the United States. Throughout its histo- ry, Sesame Street has attempted to confront racism through its diverse cast and, in the summer of 2020, by directly addressing the topic with children and families. However, both its passive representa- tion and active discussion fall short of what is needed to confront systemic racism. This paper address- es Sesame Street’s past and present role as a leader in children’s educational media, and advocates that the program employ Critical Race Theory to evaluate how young children are taught about race. INTRODUCTION of 3- and 4-year-old children, 2019). Conversely, preschool-aged children are highly involved with television and other media. Cur- Along with conventional preschools, the television program Sesa- rently, 90% of parents with children three to four years old state me Street has played a prominent role in educating young children their child has access to a television, 64% to a tablet, and 62% to since its creation over fifty years ago. Along with covering basic a smartphone (Parenting Children in the Age of Screens, 2020). math and literacy, Sesame Street helps children and their families The latter two devices are likely also used to watch video content, address difficult social and emotional topics, including the under- as 81% of the same parents state their child watches YouTube vid- discussed complexities of race and racism. The show has long been eos, and half of parents of children four or younger say their child considered a leader in showcasing racial diversity with its cast of watches YouTube daily (Parenting Children in the Age of Screens, adults and children. However, Sesame Street has openly discussed 2020). Demographic patterns of YouTube viewership are the re- racism only twice: once in the 1993 episode “Racism on Sesame verse of preschool enrollment, with parents with a high school ed- Street,” and again in the summer of 2020, when it began an initia- ucation or less and Black and Hispanic parents most likely to say tive addressing racial injustice after the murder of George Floyd their child watches YouTube daily (Parenting Children in the Age sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and action of Screens, 2020). Additionally, television and video content is usu- (Racism on Sesame Street, n.d.). Additionally, in contrast to the hu- ally nationally uniform. While the ideal role for educational media man cast, the Muppet cast struggles with diverse representation. can be debated, currently, educational policies targeting television As a trusted leader in children’s media, Sesame Street’s shortfalls and digital media may have greater and more equitable impacts on in addressing racism shape perceptions of race, identity, and rac- young children than policies targeting traditional schooling. ism for millions of children nationwide. This paper will investigate Sesame Street using a Critical Race Theory lens to analyze how a While too much screen time can negatively affect three- to five- central institution of children’s educational media unintentionally year-old children, research shows well-designed educational TV reinforces systems of whiteness in the United States, and suggests shows can positively affect children’s cognitive, literacy, and so- ways it can move from colorblind to color-conscious advocacy. cial skills (COUNCIL ON COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA, 2016). The show Sesame Street is considered the gold standard of well-designed educational shows, as it is designed using education- EDUCATIONAL POLICY, CRITICAL RACE THEORY, AND CHIL- al theory and research and frequently analyzed for efficacy (Mielke DREN’S MEDIA 1990). Created in 1969 through a public-private collaboration, Ses- ame Street was the first research-based children’s show claiming When considering how educational policies on race affect pre- the time children spent watching TV could teach them: its initial school-aged children, it is necessary to look outside of the tradi- goal was remedying the difference in educational achievements be- tional school system. In 2018, 68% of four-year-old and 40% of tween low-income “inner-city” children and their peers by making three-year-old children were enrolled in a preschool program, with learning accessible and entertaining for young children before they white children and children of parents with graduate or profession- started school (Tierney 1971). Research on the program’s immedi- al degrees most likely to be enrolled (Preschool and Kindergarten ate effects described its success preparing children as comparable Enrollment, 2020). Enrollment also differs between states, with to federally funded Head Start preschool programs, while requiring 2017 data showing 33 out 50 states falling below the 48.1% na- a fraction of the cost (Kearney & Levine, 2019). Sesame Street is tional average enrollment of three- and four-year-olds (Percentage now the longest-running American children’s television show, and Published by EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale, 2021 1 Spring 2021 YURJ | Vol 2.1 1 Yoo | Education Studies andThe Critical Yale Undergraduate Race Theory Research Journal, Vol. 2 [2021], Iss. 1, Art. 29 widely accessible through the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), year-olds were found in multiple studies to categorize people by subscription streaming services, YouTube, the program’s website, race and to express racial biases, and in one study to use race in de- and its free iOS app (Our History, n.d.; Sesame Street, n.d.). An- termining their identity, the identity of others, and deciding which alyzing where Sesame Street’s policies fail to adequately address children to include or exclude from activities (Winkler 2009). Re- race illuminates how this foundational show reinforces dominant search has also shown that these behaviors are not solely the result racial narratives. of directly taught bias, but rather emerge due to children’s observa- tions and interpretations of the role race plays in society at all levels of daily life, including media representation (Winkler 2009). Using “As a trusted leader in children’s media, CRT and acknowledging this central role of race shows that rather than an issue better avoided, race is an essential educational topic Sesame Street’s shortfalls in addressing that must explicitly combat the dominant societal messages already racism shape perceptions of race, identity, shaping children’s thinking. Currently, television and media representation may worsen existing and racism for millions of children societal biases in children. A study sampling TV programs airing in 2017 in the US and Canada for children 12 and under found that nationswide.” for all main characters, only 38% were female, and only 2% were characterized as coming from a “lower class” background (Lemish One lens to analyze how Sesame Street treats race is Critical Race & Johnson 2019). In the U.S. shows, 65% of all human characters Theory (CRT), originally derived from critiques of legal scholar- were white (Lemish & Johnson 2019). Showrunners also face di- ship’s approach to racial reform (Ladson-Billings, 2010). Daniel versity issues, with 71% of shows created solely by men, and writ- Solórzano (1998) defines five central themes of CRT as it applies er’s rooms characterized as “notorious for being filled with white to education. First is “the centrality and intersectionality of race men” (Lemish & Johnson 2019). These statistics illustrate the inter- and racism,” considering race as central rather than secondary, and sectional identities chronically sidelined in children’s media. examining how it intersects with other hierarchies such as gender or class (Solórzano, 1998). Second is “the challenge to dominant The percentages above do not reflect the true demographics of ideology,” such as challenging claims of objectivity or color blind- children in the U.S. Recent data shows 49% of children ages 0-19 ness as in reality reinforcing the power of dominant groups; third are female, only 51% of children under 18 are white, and 39% of is “the commitment to social justice,” eliminating racism and oth- children live in low-income families (U.S. population 2020; Child er forms of subordination; fourth is “the centrality of experiential trends 2018; United States Demographics, 2018). This biased knowledge,” highlighting the lived experiences of people of color representation in children’s show characters parallels the lack of as critical knowledge; and fifth is “the interdisciplinary perspec- representative teacher diversity in traditional school settings: as tive” (Solórzano, 1998). Applying a critical lens to children’s media of 2016, 82% of US public school teachers were white (State of is important because children are likely to consume media uncrit- Racial Diversity, 2016).