anxiety in a hawaiian shirt

sesame street has been meeting kids where they were at since the 70s, and in the 70s, POC kids were in some pretty scary places. what contemporary white parents might perceive as a sudden dystopian horror is, sadly, the level of trauma, violence, insecurity, and fear that a lot of non-white families have had to navigate for generations. it has always been hard and heartbreaking for some families to try to protect their kids from knowing how dangerous the world is and how much some parts of it want them dead. now it's white parents time to join in that important work. i don't meant to scold, but i want to remind: generations of kids have taken much-needed messages of comfort and solace from sesame street, and the people there have always known, since the start, how much we need bravery and compassion. it's not about innocence and it's not about ignorance: it's about love. this is their entire mission, and they're staying strong. we can too.