The newest resident of “Sesame Street”, Zhiying, aims to fight anti-Asian sentiment

Ji-Young, the newest resident of “Sesame Street”, is making history as the first Asian-American puppet to make its debut on the Thanksgiving special.

The new role will be in Watch us come together: Sesame Street Special, Which would show that she was told to “go home”, which is a common insult to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Popular Sesame Street characters, guest stars such as Simu Liu and Naomi Osaka, and other Asian American residents of Sesame Street will be there to let her know that she belongs to her.

The 7-year-old Ji-Young is Korean-American and loves electric guitars and skateboarding. In the first interview with the Associated Press, Zhiying’s puppeteer Catherine King said that participating in this show is a dream come true, but it is also a huge responsibility.

King said: “I think I have a lot of weight, maybe I am adding a burden to myself to teach these courses and become a representative that I didn’t have when I was a kid.”

Kay Wilson Stallings, executive vice president of creativity and production at the non-profit organization Sesame Studios, told the Associated Press that the creation of Ji-Young is a way to “welcome the moment” after the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes in 2020.

Stallings said that Ji-Young will promote being a good “righteous person” in the community, and pointed to examples of racism and prejudice. However, Stallings also promised that Ji Ying will appear for most of the season, not just for racial justice content.

For more reports from the Associated Press, please see below:

Sesame Workshop established two working groups-one focused on its content and the other focused on its own diversity. What developed is Coming Together, a multi-year initiative to address how to talk to children about racial, ethnic, and cultural issues.

“When we knew we were going to do this work focused on the experience of Asian and Pacific islanders, we certainly knew that we also needed to create an Asian puppet,” Stallings said.

These newer puppets-their personalities and appearances-were completed in a few months. This process usually takes at least a few years. Stallings said that there are external experts and cross-departmental employees called “cultural trust” who weigh all aspects of the new puppet.

For Kim, it is important that Ji-Young is not a “pan-Asian”.

“Because this is something that all Asian Americans have experienced. They kind of want to confuse us as a whole’Asian’,” Kim said. “So it is very important that she is a dedicated Korean-American, not only an ordinary Korean, but she was born here.”

Ji-Young was created to fight anti-Asian sentiment, and this fact makes her special to Kim in some ways.

“I remember like the Atlanta shooting, how terrible it was to me,” King said. “Obviously, one of my hopes is to really help teach what racism is, to help teach children to recognize it and then speak out against it. But my other hope for Ji-Young is that she will just see different kinds of watching Children on TV.”

Vanessa Leung, co-executive director of the Asian American Children and Families Alliance, is excited about Ji-Young. The organization did not participate in Zhiying’s creation, but had previously consulted on the anti-racist content of Sesame Studio.This is important when Asian American families, especially many immigrant families, can see their own reflections in such institutions Sesame Street, Liang said.

“It inspired curiosity and early understanding of the diversity of our community, and the beauty of the diversity of our community,” Liang said.

As a new kid on the street, Zhiying looks forward to showing her friends and neighbors various aspects of Korean culture, such as food. She likes to cook dishes such as tteokbokki (chewy rice cakes) with her halmoni (grandmother).And she already has Sesame Street Friends who want samples.

“I really want to try it,” said Ernie, who participated in the interview with Zhiying. “You know, I have eaten barbecue. I really like barbecue. I guess old brother Bert may not have eaten Korean food.”

Have made a few famous friends Sesame Street, Is there anyone Zhiying still wants to meet?

“Linda Lindas because they are so cool,” Ji-Young said, referring to the teenage punk rock band. “They rock, they are cool girls, and most of them are Asians. They are my heroes. If we can make Linda Lindas wear Sesame Street, I will show them around. “