Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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San Francisco Examiner - July 18, 2002
Michael Stoll Of The Examiner Staff
The 2-foot-tall, grinning, mocha-colored, HIV-positive puppet has been lecturing 3-to-7-year-olds about AIDS since 1989, meeting with hardly any protest. Puppeteers say Natalie is an invaluable tool for educating young children about the life-threatening disease.
Natalie, handmade by a 25-year-old national organization, The Kids on the Block, is already performing in Santa Clara schools, and Berkeley may be next. There has been some controversy -- occasionally a parent complains that it is wrong even to mention AIDS until children reach their teens.
But it is nothing like the political tempest brewing around a rumor that the Public Broadcast Service wanted to invite an HIV-infected Muppet from the South African television show, "Takalani Sesame," onto the American version of "Sesame Street."
Rep. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, a Republican from Louisiana, sent a letter to PBS saying the character was inappropriate.
"Why can't kids just be kids for awhile?" asked Ken Johnson, a spokesman for Tauzin and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees the broadcaster's budget. "They're forced to grow up fast enough, and they're going to learn soon enough about AIDS, world famine and terrorism."
PBS replied that it had no plans to employ the South African Muppet. But that's a shame, said Aric-James Darroe, president of the Columbia, Md.-based The Kids on the Block, Inc.
"It's really important for young children who are going to be spending time with HIV-infected peers to know that they can be friends," Darroe said. Natalie is a 25-year-old woman who got HIV from her drug-abusing husband. Her foil is Joanne, a 14-year-old na f learning about health and romance.
The curriculum for older children includes specifics about HIV prevention, including an optional segment on condoms. The script aimed at 3-to-7-year-olds is simplified, mentioning only ways that HIV is not transmissible.
Though it hardly has the reach of "Sesame Street," Kids on the Block has 1,500 troupes worldwide, playing to audiences in all 50 states and nearly 30 countries. Puppeteers choose from 50 characters and hundreds of scripts explaining disability and diversity issues in childlike banter.
Kids on the Block became a for-profit company to insulate itself from pressure from elected officials trying to alter material based on medical fads or shifting morality, Darroe said.
"I'm amazed to see Republican leaders in the House make such a fuss about a 'Sesame Street' character who is HIV-positive," said Rep. Henry Waxman, a Democrat from Los Angeles. "I don't think they should be injecting themselves into the content decisions at PBS."
The hubbub has led others to defend the universally popular children's show.
" 'Sesame Street' educates children and helps them understand the world they live in," said House whip and San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi. "Sadly, South Africa has more people living with HIV and AIDS than any other country, and millions of children have already lost their parents to this scourge. Education is our most important weapon in this fight."
E-mail: mstoll@sfexaminer.com
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