Karli (2019- ) is a green girl monster with yellow hair on Sesame Street, friend of Elmo and Abby Cadabby. She is the first Muppet whose parent suffers from addiction to drugs or drink.
In May 2019 she first appeared, not on the television show, but online at Sesame Street in Communities. When Elmo met her parents they said they were her “for-now parents” (foster parents) – for now because Karli’s mother was having “a hard time”.
In October 2019 we found out why Karli’s mother was having a hard time: she has an addiction. As Karli put it:
“[addiction is] a sickness that makes a person feel like they have to take drugs or drink alcohol to feel okay. Yeah, my mom was having a hard time with addiction and I felt like my family was the only one going through it. But now I’ve met so many other kids like us, Salia. Makes me feel like we’re not alone.”
Salia is Salia Woodbury, a real girl human whose parents were both hooked on opioids.
Karli informed Abby:
“Remember Abby? My mom was away for awhile because she had a grown-up problem […] My mommy explained that she needed grown-up help. She told me it wasn’t my fault.”
Elmo notes:
“Well, when Elmo talks about a problem that Elmo is having, it helps Elmo feel better.”
In the US:
- Someone dies of an opioid overdose every 7.5 minutes – some 70,000 a year.
- 5.7 million children under the age of 11 live with a parent suffering from substance abuse. A third of them will wind up in foster care.
Kama Einhorn, a senior content manager with Sesame Workshop that produces Sesame Street:
“There’s nothing else out there that addresses substance abuse for young, young kids from their perspective. Even a parent at their most vulnerable – at the worst of their struggle – can take one thing away when they watch it with their kids, then that serves the purpose.”
Karli’s message:
- You are not alone.
- You will be taken care of.
- Addiction is a sickness and sick people need help to get better.
- It is not your fault.
All of this was designed with the help of Jerry Moe, a licensed children’s therapist and national director of the Hazelden Betty Ford Children’s Program. He says it is sorely needed.
It is wonderful and beautiful – and profoundly racist.
Sesame Street turns 50 next month. The opioid epidemic is hardly the first drug epidemic it has seen. It is based in New York, which saw a heroin epidemic in the 1970s and a crack epidemic in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But the children of those epidemics were mainly Black and Brown, while those of the opioid epidemic are mainly White.
Hidden message: It is not just Sesame Street, of course. Government and the White press were and are little different: opioid addicts receive empathy and help, heroin and crack addicts prison and demonization.
Sad to see, given Sesame Street’s anti-racist roots.
– Abagond, 2019.
See also:
541
I was hoping by the end of the article, you’d point out the racist double standard in how white people are treated by the United States government and the white media, when its white people that are the addicts.
Even when white people break laws in order to get their opioid fix, they’re given a pass. Afterall, it’s not “their” fault. It’s the drug’s fault!
It’s white supremacy by racist white people in full effect.
The article shows how sesame street, ignored black children, who were herded into foster homes, because their parents were not only hooked on crack and needed help but were THROWN IN PRISON for being addicted to it!
I am sickened by the white media, publishing countless fluff pieces on white opioid users!
And if you’re a black drug abuser, and noticed the outpouring of support for opioid users and lack of prosecutions for these drug attics, don’t think for a second it would be extended to you, if you were to use opiods and got caught by law enforcement.
This is because when it comes to racist white people in the criminal justice system, it’s not about which drug is being used to determine prosecution.
it’s the color and race of the person using the drug, that determines if one will be prosecuted.
LikeLiked by 6 people
Everything Sondis said above and then some. We can’t forget the crack babies born addicted and with a laundry list of both physical, mental and behavioral issues. No one cared about them. In fact, as they matured, they were demonized, imprisoned and killed.
For children dealing with addicted parents, I’m glad Sesame Street has introduced Karli. Just wished the show’s creatives and producers could have cared a lot sooner.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Yes, i believe a congressman/senator from WA state wants to legalize opioids. They skipped right over coke.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I feel like the current “Sesame Street” deserves to have sneer quotes around its name. Without CTW and PBS at the helm, it’s just another piece of mass-market garbage kids’ entertainment, on the same level as Barney or those freaky out-of-tune nursery rhyme videos on YouTube, and nothing good should be expected from it.
LikeLike
I found a listing of two years worth of Sesame Street episodes aired during the height of the crack epidemic that was tearing through black and brown communities. Noticeably, not even one of Sesame Street’s shows were dedicated to the plight of the crack epidemic scourge.
I surmise that at that time, Karli or Elmo’s message would’ve went something like this when pertaining to the crack epidemic:
Karli’s message circa 1987-1988:
• Black and Brown folks, you ARE alone.
• Black and Brown folks will NOT be taken care of.
• Addiction to drugs is CRIMINAL and CRIMINAL people need to be incarcerated.
• Yes Black and Brown folks, it’s all YOUR fault.
Karli’s message in 2019:
• White people, you are not alone.
• White people, you WILL be taken care of.
• Addiction is a SICKNESS and sick people need help to get better.
• White people, it is not your fault.
https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Season_19_(1987-1988)
https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Season_20_(1988-1989)
LikeLiked by 2 people
I feel so GenX today, reading this all! It’s OK to not know your neighbor!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Today is the 50th anniversary of Sesame Street. Maybe a good time for the post on that to go up.
LikeLike
@ blakksage
Good points
LikeLike
@ tankermottind
I second your observation about Sesame Street – past, present and future.
Never liked it.
LikeLike