Monthly Archives: July 2013

Next time you worry about this generation of kids, watch this video

Kids React to the Cheerios CommercialIn case you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve seen the Cheerios commercial featuring a biracial couple that caused so much outrage. The producers had to disable the comments section because of the vitriol that ensued.

The reaction to this overt racism brought out a really interesting dialogue about race in American (including this parody video letting the haters know where they stand).

But of all the responses thus far to this overblown reaction, my favorite is this video from the Fine Bros., whose React series of videos on YouTube, shows kids and elderly people making their own sense of various news items and pop culture happenings.

In Kids React to the Cheerios Commercial, a group of children have no idea why anyone would react negatively to the spot. When told it was because of the biracial couple, they react with complete confusion.

The next time you worry this generation of kids lacks some kind of moral compass, watch this video. These kids (who, it is likely true, are probably not a representative sample of American youngsters) sum it up in ways that are hard to ignore:

“It’s just the color of their skin, what matters is if they’re nice or mean,” says one. “Underneath it, you’re literally the same. You have organs and a heart,” argues another.

Their innocence is kind heartbreaking, as with this statement by one young boy: “I thought Martin Luther King spoke against this and fixed this already.”

It’s hard not to watch this and feel hope.

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