“Sesame Street” has introduced two new Black puppets as a part of the show’s initiative to tackle race-related issues.
There are some new kids on the block: Elijah and his 5-year-old son, Wes. They are the latest characters to be added to the PBS series. They come following Sesame Workshop’s decision to combat racism and highlight race-related issues off-camera and on-camera. The puppets are expected to help address tough topics regarding race, according to The Hill.
“[Wes is] very imaginative, he’s very fun. He’s always trying to help his friends and make sure that they feel safe and that they feel loved, and that they can feel strong in their own skin. The more I perform him, the more I get to know him,” Bradley Freeman Jr., who is the puppeteer for Wesley Walker, told TIME magazine.
“Sometimes he gets a little lost in his own emotions because he comes from a family that’s very big on communicating how they feel—he’s able to communicate, but he’s also 5 years old. So sometimes things overwhelm him, and he can be angry or sad. So that’s where he really relies on his dad and his friends to make sure that he can come to the best solution possible.”
Senior Vice President at Sesame Street Workshop, Jeanette Betancourt, said these are issues that impact children every day. “Children are not colorblind—not only do they first notice differences in race in infancy, but they also start forming their own sense of identity at a very young age,” she said.
“‘The ABCs of Racial Literacy’ is designed to foster open, age-appropriate conversations among families and support them in building racial literacy. By encouraging these much-needed conversations through Coming Together, we can help children build a positive sense of identity and value the identities of others.”
