#sesame-street

#sesame-street

In a 1972 episode of Sesame Street, Jesse Jackson, then 31, is standing against a stoop on the soundstage modelled after an urban neighborhood block. He's wearing a purple, white, and black striped shirt, accented with a gold medallion featuring Martin Luther King Jr's profile. The camera cuts to reveal a group of kids, the embodiment of Jackson's Rainbow Coalition children under the age of 10 from every ethnicity and racial group. He leads them in a call-and-response of his famous liberatory chant: I am somebody.

A hacker briefly took control of Elmo's official X/Twitter account, sharing antisemitic and racist messages that called for violence against Jewish people.

In the wake of the pandemic, figures like Elmo have reassured not just children but also adults, showcasing how accessibility to emotional literacy is crucial.