D is for a little decency

Sesame Street and its discontents

FOR THOSE who haven’t seen the opening of Sesame Street in years, you’d recognize the new version right off. Same lyrics. Same tune. Same beat. Still sung by children.

Sunny day

Sweepin’ the clouds away

On my way to where the air is sweet

What you might not recognize is the accompanying video. Those graphics folks are something. (This newspaper has its own graphics people. A more talented bunch would be hard to find.) These days, instead of rolling video of kids on a monkey-bar set, you’ll see something more akin to those mod openings for sit-coms. Or a CNN special.

But sporty new graphics or no, Sesame Street is still Sesame Street. Still doing its best to educate the young ’uns. Still doing a bang-up pre-K job for those who don’t have access to it. And still, somehow, causing just enough controversy to make the news.

When the show first hit the airwaves almost 45 years ago, some state commission over in Mississippi voted to ban Sesame Street because of its “highly integrated cast of children.” Imagine that. Kids on TV who weren’t white. No doubt most have forgotten the name of that commission long ago. It deserved forgetting. But Sesame Street is still on the air.

Didn’t one of the show’s international offshoots invent a Muppet character who was HIV-positive? Which may have been useful for its African affiliates. It caused an uproar among some over here. Why? No telling. If the purpose is to educate young people, why teach them to bury their heads in the sand? Especially in those parts of Africa where HIV is epidemic.

Sesame Street made the news again last week. Some smart-aleck reporter type (they’re everywhere!) saw that theshow, or at least its website, is reaching out to kids with a parent in custody. The program is called “Little Children, Big Challenges.” And it’s been distributed to schools, community centers and, yes, jails.

Naturally, there’s a requisite video of the Muppets. They’re building a toy car, it seems, when one of them says his father’s not around to help-because Dad is in jail. And the episode begins.

The kit that comes with the new show includes tips for folks who’re taking care of such kids. And some good counsel for the kids themselves about what to expect during jailhouse visits.

Result: The usual quota of tasteless reactions. A particularly nasty headline in the Washington Times read: S is for shank?

Thanks, y’all. You can always count on certain quarters to lower the level of public discourse.

SOME of us think the newest idea from Sesame Street is a good one. In a long line of good ideas. For if a certain book-The Book-tells us to take care of the least of these, it’d be harder to find those in more need than pre-schoolers with a parent, or parents, in prison.

At last count from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, there were more than 2.2 million people in prisons and jails. How many of them have kids? And how many of them have children too young to grasp the intricacies of the legal system and why Mommy isn’t at home?

Now is the time for all good men-and women-to come to the aid of Sesame Street and Sesame Workshop. Because our friends who live on Sesame Street-lifelong friends, if you include Ernie and Bert, Big Bird and Grover-could use some support. And that includes moral support.

Editorial, Pages 16 on 06/22/2013

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