SpongeBob and Friends Star in Video Promoting Diversity and Acceptance
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 3/9/2005
More than one hundred beloved children's characters join together in a rendition of the song "We Are Family" for celebration of the proposed National We Are Family Day. The music video, which features Big Bird, Barney, Kermit, and SpongeBob SquarePants, among others, aims to promote themes of tolerance and diversity to children in the United States."Cooperation and unity are the most important values we can teach children," said Nile Rodgers, co-writer of the song and founder of the We Are Family Foundation. "We believe that this is the essential first step of loving thy neighbor. And the fun and exciting format makes it a lesson that's easy for children to learn."
The We Are Family Foundation and its 11 partners from the public interest and private sectors began distributing the video and other teaching materials to more than 60,000 schools this week. The teaching materials include educational lesson plans developed in collaboration with the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) Miller Early Childhood Initiative of A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE ® Institute.
"Educational research has taught us that people learn best when taught in the 'voices' they can hear," Caryl M. Stern, associate national director of ADL, wrote in an op-ed. "Messages are reinforced by cultural icons such as sports figures and Hollywood celebrities. Our youngest children hear these messages from characters they feel safe with and have grown to love through television."
Controversy over Sponge Bob and the project surfaced earlier this year when some right-wing conservatives claimed the cartoon character had been enlisted by an organization that endorsed same-sex relationships.
James Dobson from Focus on Family was one of the critics of the project. His complaints stemmed from a "tolerance pledge" that used to display on the We Are Family Foundation's website. The pledge, which is from the Southern Poverty Law Center's www.tolerance.org website, includes a provision for practicing tolerance and understanding for those who are of different cultures, races or sexual identities.
"Friendship and fair treatment are the primary concerns of young children, not sex," Stern wrote. "[Children] are saddened when a character is made sad through the bad behavior of another character and happy when everyone lives happily ever after."
The "We Are Family" video's sponsors maintain that the film is not promoting a sinister agenda but is endorsing the ideal of respecting others despite differences.
Rodgers, who founded the organization in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, said that his purpose was to teach children about multiculturalism and diversity.
