‘Sesame Street’ To Partner With CNN On Town Hall Addressing Racism
The characters of Sesame Street will stay silent on the issue of racism and police brutality no longer. In response to protests surrounding the death of George Floyd, the creators of the beloved television program are partnering with CNN to hold a town hall. The network announced the upcoming program on Tuesday afternoon on its site. The event will take place on Saturday, June 6.
The 60-minute show, officially titled, Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism. A CNN/Sesame Street Town Hall for Kids and Families, is the second such partnership between the two entities.
This episode will reportedly focus on talking to kids about racism, embracing diversity, and the recent nationwide protests. CNN anchors Van Jones and Erica Hill will moderate the town hall and various Sesame Street characters including Big Bird are slated to appear.
The first town hall event took place in April and focused on the coronavirus pandemic. It was meant to alleviate young viewers’ fears about the shelter in place orders that were put in place around the country. The ABCs of COVID-19 featured Big Bird and other characters from Sesame Street talking to Hill, as well as Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
The announcement of the new town hall came just one day after the show put a post on Instagram saying it was, “built on diversity, inclusion, and, especially, kindness.”
Sesame Street was just the latest company or entity to make such an announcement since the death of George Floyd. The Minnesotan died in police custody after being arrested for allegedly passing counterfeit bills. After a video of the arrest showed a police officer kneeling on the man’s neck while Floyd repeatedly told them he couldn’t breathe until he became unresponsive and eventually died. His death sparked protests first in Minneapolis and then across the country.
While some of the protests have remained peaceful, others took a violent turn over the last week. One such protest near the White House in Washington, D.C. reportedly caused President Trump to be ushered into a bunker until Secret Service and Park Police were able to get the protestors under control. Several days after reports of his going to a bunker, Trump claimed he was simply inspecting the bunker.
The president’s handling of the protests has even had some of his critics saying Trump is adding fuel to the fire. A former GOP candidate went so far as to say he believes the president wants things to turn violent.
