In recent months and years, as with most other institutions in the United States, children’s television programming has found itself within the crosshairs of the woke mob.
Some programs capitulated to live another day. Popular show “Paw Patrol” — whose premise, unfortunately for its public relations team, centers upon dogs working as first responders — was sharply condemned by rage-blind leftists in June of 2020 for justifying the existence of “good cops.” Accordingly, the show muted its content from June 2 to June 7 “in solidarity of #amplifymelanatedvoices” and “to give access for Black voices to be heard so we can continue to listen and further our learning.”
Perceiving a gap in the market for woke drivel, new programs broke into the children’s television space. Boston University academic and antiracist grifter-in-chief Ibram X. Kendi worked with Netflix to adapt his book “Antiracist Baby” into an animated kids’ show. Chris Nee — the creator of Disney Junior’s hit “Doc McStuffins” — joined Kendi in the project. “Antiracist Baby” introduces “the youngest readers and the grown-ups in their lives to the concept and power of antiracism.”
Here are four other kids shows which have bought wholeheartedly into the cause of wokeness.
“Arthur”
In August of 2020, PBS put American taxpayer dollars to excellent use by using hit show “Arthur” to interpret the death of George Floyd.
“Did you see that video?” Arthur asked his friend Buster in what appeared to be a cartoon lockdown-era Zoom call. “Yeah, I just watched it. It was awful!” Buster responded. “I can’t believe someone would be hurt like that just because they’re black.”
“Racism is so unfair!” remarked Arthur, telling Buster that “it happens everywhere.”
The boys then invited their school’s lunch lady, Mrs. MacGraddy, to the Zoom chat. She proceeded to explain that “a lot of grown-ups are fighting racism and working hard to keep us all safe.”
“Racism is like a disease,” she said. “If you don’t treat it, it’s just gonna get worse.”
Mrs. MacGraddy then told eight-year-old Buster that fighting racism is indelibly relevant to his life. In an exhortation almost identical to Ibram Kendi’s trademark fortune cookie proverb, MacGraddy said that “it’s not enough to just say, ‘I’m not racist, it’s not my problem.’ We have to actively fight against racism.”
“Talk about racism with your friends, your parents, your teachers,” MacGraddy added, also encouraging the boys to “act” when they see examples of racism.
“Steven Universe”
Cartoon Network’s “Steven Universe” issued a similar PSA for children.
“Colorblindness is our game, because everyone’s the same!” chanted the show’s characters before one of them announced that she had serious qualms with Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream.
“My experience with anti-black racism is really specific,” explained the elementary-aged cartoon girl. “Other people of color experience other forms of racism too, but you won’t see any of that if you don’t see color.”
“So, this entire public service announcement could be a ploy to avoid talking about racism altogether?” asked another character. “Can we get a rewrite where we appreciate each other without erasing what makes each of us different?”
“See color. Be anti-racist!” the PSA concluded.
As it turns out, Steven Universe — a flagship program for Cartoon Network — has dabbled in wokeness far before the ideology’s metastization in 2020. As a Heritage Foundation blog post called “Cartoons Are the Left’s New Weapon to Target Your Kids” points out, Steven Universe “has received praise from many LGBT organizations.” Indeed, LGBT magazine Them says that the show is “the queerest cartoon on television.”
“One of them is a fusion of two female characters who are in love, and another used to be in love with Steven’s mom,” gushed Them. “The show has featured women in tuxedos, boys in dresses, and a non-binary person in whatever clothing they want, and all of it is celebrated.”
“Clarence”
Another Cartoon Network show, “Clarence,” is a cult classic among LGBT activists. The show features a character named Jeff, who has two moms.
The show also featured the channel’s first instance of homosexual intimacy in 2014.
One episode of the show features a male character entering a restaurant, then catching the attention of a female character sitting in a booth by herself. Though the woman was elated after she made eye contact with the man, he shook his head in disapproval. Luckily for him, another man greeted him with kisses on the cheek as song lyrics “love is love, lovely love” played in the background.
“Oh. Well, that’s good,” commented the woman with an air of disappointment.
The show’s writer stated that the two characters were originally supposed to kiss each other on the lips. He commented in a since-deleted tweet that “originally the guy had flowers and they kissed on the mouth.”
Calling the scene “not perfect,” women’s magazine Bustle would have preferred a more explicit display of affection: “The network decided to downgrade the encounter from the two men kissing on the mouth and one bringing flowers to the pair kissing on the cheeks, not the mouth, which makes it a little more ambiguous for child viewers.”
Luckily, children desiring a foray into LGBT intimacy can change the channel to CBS, where Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion mimicked lesbian intercourse during the 2021 Grammys.
“Sesame Street”
A few weeks ago, longtime PBS classic “Sesame Street” introduced two black characters as part of the network’s “ABCs of Racial Literacy” initiative. The move marks the willingness of “Sesame Street” to break its fourth wall by introducing ethnic categories to its typically racially ambiguous muppet characters.
The two muppets — five-year-old Wes and his father, Elijah — will “help all families celebrate their own unique identities, while also providing age-appropriate language and strategies to answer sometimes-tough questions around race and racism.”
As PBS’s press release boasts, “Elmo wants to know why Wes’s skin is brown” in one episode. Elijah then explains “the concept of melanin and that the color of our skin is an important part of who we are.”
Another video will feature muppet Rosita’s mom and her friend Sofia helping Rosita “cope with a racist incident in the grocery store.”
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.