As a kid, I used to watch Mr. Rogers.  Now, decades later, our 3 year old watches Daniel Tiger (an animated character who resides in Mr. Rogers’ world of make believe with other of Rogers’ characters).

Mr. Rogers’ and Daniel Tiger’s neighborhood is multiracial, or, at least, it’s filled with characters who clearly are different than one another.  There’s the Tiger Family, the Cat Family, the Owl Family, and, of course, the Royal Family as well as a host of secondary characters, all of whom are quite distinct.  In short, it’s at least as multiracial as Sesame Street.

Interestingly, though so many of us watch these shows as kids, so few of us wind live in such diverse communities.  Where I grew up on Long Island, my neighborhood consisted of different kinds of White people, but they were all White people.  In my high school class of 135 people, there were maybe a total of 10 kids who were either Black, Latino or Asian.  And, I’m sure I’m not alone. I’m sure that so many others had similar experiences.

The thing is, it’s hard to overcome prejudices and fears if you don’t see people who are different.  History and experience demonstrate that when we spend time with others, we realize that others are just like us.  They laugh, cry, worry about and enjoy all the same things that we do.  But, we don’t really understand this until we spend time with others.

So, what’s the answer?

It’s simple, everyone has to live together.  Just one thing — it can’t be at our house.  We don’t have enough room.