Overview
- Video of Jackson leading children in the call-and-response on a 1972 Sesame Street episode is being widely reposted following his Feb. 17 death.
- Official Sesame Street accounts re-shared the clip with a message thanking Jackson for helping generations believe in themselves.
- The chant draws on a poem by Rev. William Holmes Borders Sr., which Jackson popularized in speeches and on a 1971 recording.
- The segment features a diverse group of children affirming dignity across race, language, age, and income, ending with “I am God’s child, I am somebody.”
- The renewed focus places the scene within Jackson’s broader legacy as a protégé of Martin Luther King Jr., a two-time presidential candidate, and Rainbow/PUSH founder who used concerts and television to reach mass audiences.