Father Jesse Jackson is said to have written to Sesame Place with solutions to alleged racism

Father Jesse Jackson is aiding in the Sesame Place controversy, which arose after many Black families accused the amusement park of discriminating against their children.

Based on TMZ, Jackson wrote a letter to Sesame Place and SeaWorld, where theme park characters are licensed, expressing the need for a change following backlash on social media. The letter allegedly suggests that Sesame Place Philadelphia attracts more Blacks to its staff and hires an African-American company to organize bias training.

Sesame Place, owned by SeaWorld, has not provided solutions that I believe will undo the culture that has tainted this theme park with discriminatory practices. We need SeaWorld to take a stand against past practices and do what is necessary to end discriminatory practices at their theme parks.”

As we previously reported, multiple families have jointly filed a class-action lawsuit alleging Sesame Place employees intentionally ignored Black children during park parades. The initial video shows an employee dressed as Rosita shaking her head “no” at two young Black girls asking for a hug and continuing to hug other non-Black children at the parade.

Father Jesse Jackson went on to condemn the park, and compared the alleged incidents to the police use of excessive force against black people.

When I watched the video now shared by Jodi Brown, I was shocked but unfortunately not surprised. We have seen discrimination in the form of excessive force by the police, just as we have witnessed recruitment practices, but to see discrimination against those Innocent children are a boundary that we cannot allow the enemies of progress to think they can cross. We collectively must let SeaWorld and other companies know that we will not tolerate racism against anyone and certainly not our innocent children.”

A family from Baltimore files additional discrimination lawsuit against Sesame Place, and is seeking $25 million from the theme park.