A new Cartoon Network public service announcement encourages children to “see color” when it comes to race as a way to become “anti-racist.”
“It’s important to SEE people in all their beautiful COLORS. When you see color and the unique experiences that come from it, you can recognize the role racism plays in our culture AND appreciate everyone and their diversity,” Cartoon Network said of the clip, which was posted on YouTube Tuesday.
The PSA features a white child, a black child, and a purple alien named Amethyst.
The clip starts out pretending to advocate for traditional “colorblindness,” with the characters marching and singing, “Colorblindness is our game because everyone’s the same. Everybody join our circle, doesn’t matter if you’re white or black or purple.”
But Amethyst has a change of heart mid-tune, stopping the song and asking the director if the song they’re singing makes sense.
“Hold up a minute here — who wrote this?” Amethyst says. “I think it kind of does matter that I’m purple. I mean, I’m purple because I’m literally an alien.”
“Well, I’m not an alien, but it definitely matters to me that I’m black,” the black character says in agreement.
“I think people like the black, white, or purple thing, because adding a fantasy race in there helps distract from the actual racism black people have to deal with,” the white character responds.
The black character then goes on to detail how people of color from different races are each victimized by racism.
“My experience with anti-black racism is really specific,” the black character says. “Other people of color experience other forms of racism too. But you won’t see any of that if you ‘don’t see color.’”
Amethyst concludes by speculating that those that advocate for colorblindness are, in reality, trying to cover up racism.
“So, this entire public service announcement could be a ploy to avoid talking about racism altogether,” the alien says.
According to Variety, the creators of the Cartoon Network show began developing public service announcements as a way to “disrupt common narratives about racism.” The “See Color” PSA was developed for the show by Dr. Deborah J. Johnson, “who specializes in racial and cultural development.”
