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Worldtown Hearsay :: Sesame Street Got It Right on Race

Submitted by Sana on November 26, 2009 – 10:52 pmOne Comment

gordon_web

Sesame Street celebrates 40 years on television, and RaceWire’s Colorlines blog looks at it’s successful cast of colorful and diverse characters and storylines.

As a child, I was drawn to Cookie Monster’s manic love for baked goods, but my most vivid recollection of Sesame Street is Gordon. I can’t remember when I first saw him, whether he was having one of his chats with Oscar about O’s grouchy outlook on life or whether he joined in a song urging us to do something good for ourselves, but I do recall his presence: warm, joyful, thoughtful and firm. Not a caricature or stereotype of a Black man, Gordon represents Sesame Street’s greatest value for me as a father—a world where people of color are celebrated without being tokenized, satirized or exaggerated.

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