First Netflix said it is developing kids programming around racial justice. Now the people behind Sesame Street are following suit, with race-based content aimed at children of all ages, including infants.
Sesame Workshop, the studio behind Sesame Street, has released a new set of instructional resources for children and their parents titled “ABC’s of Racial Literacy,” which the company said represents part of its commitment to “racial justice.”
“ABC’s of Racial Literacy” provides activities for kids as well as tutorials for parents to teach children as young as infants about the dangers of racism.
Sesame Workshop announced the program Tuesday, saying that the company has always stood for “diversity, inclusion, equity, and kindness.”
“The work to dismantle racism begins by helping children understand what racism is, and how it hurts people,” Sesame Workshop said in an Instagram post. The program provides resources that are “designed to help families celebrate their own unique identities and answer children’s sometimes-tough questions about race and racism.”
In one tutorial, parents are advised that infants develop racial preferences as early as six months.
“Infants show a preference for the faces of people from their own racial group as early as six months,” the tutorial says. “Start early by introducing children to people who don’t look like them, and let children see pictures of people with a variety of skin tones and facial features.”
In a video starring Elmo, kids are taught about the importance of skin tone and melanin.
In a group activity for kids to create self-portraits, children are taught to focus on their outward appearances. The instructions say it is “especially important for Black and Brown children to celebrate their outward appearance in order to keep strong within themselves as they grow up in a racist society.”
Netflix announced in January that it is creating an animated kids series based on Ibram X. Kendi’s Antiracist Baby, the critical race theory activist’s recent book for toddlers. The streamer said it will turn Antiracist Baby into a series of animated short music videos that will use “earwormy songs” to teach toddlers and their caregivers about “anti-racism.”
HD Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?
Children today are being bombarded with “critical race theory” and “black lives matter” propaganda. They are being taught that based on their color of skin they are, from babies, either inherently a “privileged” perpetrator of racism or are victims who will automatically be mistreated. For a child to grow up thinking that is problematic, to say the least.
When Jesus’ disciples came to Him and asked, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Jesus explained to them that one of the signs that would precede His coming would be “nations” rising against “nations.”
The word “nations” found in this verse (Matthew 24:7) is from the Greek word “ethnos,” where we get our English word for “ethnicity.” Therefore, this verse can also be read that “ethnicity shall rise against ethnicity” in the last days.
Racism is not new. However, what is new to our generation is the fabricated racism taught in schools, espoused by the media, and canceled by ‘culture.’ This stoking of division will, in the not too distant future, lead to genuine widespread racism. Racism is a sin. Creating division and hatred is a sin (Prov. 6:16-19, Luke 11:17, 1 John 2:9). All of these things are deeply rooted in a rebellion against God, His Word, and His design.
Ken Ham, in his recent article, “Is Your Baby Racist?” explained that parents have a responsibility to teach their children about race through God’s Word, instead of letting ‘woke’ tends in school stoke racial division:
This is just another example of the ridiculous claims regarding so-called “race” that are being taught as fact in our public schools and by the media. Such claims distract from the real issues regarding the sin of racism and actually perpetrate racism by pitting groups against one another (and furthering the idea that there are different “races” which, biblically and scientifically, is utterly false!).
Now, while I don’t agree that three-month-old babies are racist, I do agree that “they’re not too young to talk about race.” We should be teaching our children a biblical worldview when it comes to diversity long before the world can poison them with woke ideologies that perpetuate the very thing they claim they want to stop. So what is the biblical worldview? Well, when I teach kids on this topic (like in my book One Blood for Kids), I share about the “7 Spiritual Races in the Bible.”
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- Created Race: God created two people in his image—Adam and Eve—on day six of creation week. We all descend from Adam and Eve and are all made in God’s own image. God put the genetic diversity for the people we see today into the DNA of Adam and Eve. Diversity in skin shade, eye shape, height, weight, etc. was God’s “very good” plan from the very beginning! All people are members of Adam’s race.
- Fallen Race: When Adam sinned, God’s “very good” (Genesis 1:31) creation was broken. So now Adam and Eve were fallen; they were sinners in need of a Savior. Since we all descend from that first human couple, we are all sinners. Because we’re sinners, we don’t love God or others as we should. When it comes to not loving others, the issue isn’t really skin—it’s actually sin! That’s why various forms of what we call racism have existed throughout human history in all different cultures. It’s because we’re all sinners with evil hearts, and people will often judge others by their outward appearance!
- Rescued Race: The Bible tells us that Adam and Eve had children and that the human population grew and became increasingly wicked. In fact, it became so wicked God had to judge the world with a global flood. But in his mercy, God rescued a righteous man, Noah, and his family (along with two of every kind of land-dwelling, air-breathing animal) aboard the ark. This reminds us that God judges our sin but provides a way of salvation. That way of rescue is the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Divided Race: After the flood, Noah’s descendants rebelled, desiring to stay together and make a name for themselves in defiance of God’s command to spread out over the earth. To judge their sin, God divided their language, scattering the people over the earth. It’s because of this event in history that different people groups and different cultures formed. As groups were isolated by geography and language, certain genetic traits became dominant within the different groups. The division at Babel explains our differences!
- Saved Race: Because of our sin, every single person deserves the penalty of death. But Jesus, the God-man, stepped into history and lived the perfect life that we cannot live. He willingly died in our place on the cross, taking the penalty for our sin upon himself. He then rose from the grave and now offers the free gift of eternal life to all who will put their faith and trust in him. When we receive this gift of salvation, we become part of the “saved race.”
- Lost Race: To be part of the saved race, we must be born again (trust in Christ for salvation) because, on our own, we’re part of the lost race—we’re dead in our sins and separated from God. That’s the condition of every single person, apart from Christ. Those who remain lost will spend eternity separated from God. But we don’t have to suffer that punishment for our sins because Jesus took our penalty for us. If we repent and believe, we receive forgiveness and eternal life through Christ. Because this has eternal consequences, it’s vital we tell everyone we can about the free gift of salvation that Jesus offers! This offer is available to every single person.
- Lamb’s Race: Jesus is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). Yes, all humans are members of the “created race” made in the image of God, the “fallen race,” having a sinful nature from Adam, and the “divided race” of all kinds of ethnic groups. But it’s so very important that we also become members of the “rescued race” given grace by God, the “saved race” saved from God’s judgment, and the “Lamb’s race” covered by Jesus’ blood. Please don’t remain a member of the “lost race” under judgment for your sin. The good news is that God has provided a way back to him, so we don’t have to remain a member of the “lost race.”
The 7 “races” above are explained in detail in the book “One Blood for Kids.”
Don’t let the world influence your children to be “anti-racist”—the new buzzword that really means “defeat racism by developing a racist attitude towards a different group of people and treating certain groups preferentially.” In other words, for many in our culture, their answer to the sin of racism is more racism. Teach them what God’s Word says so they can think biblically and tackle the real problems that exist in our culture in a way that is both honoring to the Lord and his Word and that will actually help people and restore broken relationships.
