Transcripts For KPIX 60 Minutes 20170320

East africa. These are among five Million People who dont know where their next meal is coming from. They had reached the finish line of a daylong trek through killing fields and drowning land. Their hope arrived at 700 feet and 190 miles an hour. 33 tons of food scattered in the sky and cratered the earth like a volley of mortars. What do you want . There are not many shows on television that deserve to be called true american institutions. But one of them surely is sesame street. Now theres a new kid on the street whos making news. Hi julia julia, a muppet with autism. Not an easy addition. Its tricky because autism is not one thing, because it is different for every Single Person who has autism. We really like julia. Shes really special to us, miss lesley. Im steve kroft. Im lesley stahl. Im bill whitaker. Im scott pelley. Those stories, tonight on 60 minutes. Get up. And get down at cricket wireless. Where plans start at only 30 month. And more 4g lte coverage than tmobile or sprint. Plus, when you switch now you can get a brand new smartphone for free. Cricket wireless. Something to smile about. My belly pain i could build a small city with all the overthecounter products ive used. Enough ive tried enough laxatives to cover the eastern seaboard. Ive climbed a Mount Everest of fiber. Probiotics . Enough avo if youve had enough, tell your doctor what youve tried and how long youve been at it. Linzess works differently from laxatives. Linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. It can help relieve your belly pain, and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements that are easier to pass. Do not give linzess to children under six, and it should not be given to children six to less than eighteen. It may harm them. Dont take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. Get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. The most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. If its severe stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. Other side effects include gas, stomacharea pain and swelling. Talk to your doctor about managing your symptoms proactively with linzess. [bullfighting music] [burke] billygoat ruffians. Seen it. Covered it. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum whats the story behind Green Mountain coffee and fair trade . Lets take a flight to colombia. This is boris calvo. Boris grows mindblowing coffee. And because we pay him a fair price, he improves his farm and invest in his community to make even better coffee. All for a smoother tasting cup. Green mountain coffee. I have no idea whats in tbut with this usp seal i know exactly whats in my nature made gummies. Nature made has the first gummie certified by usp. A Non Profit Organization that sets purity and potency standards. Whitaker protecting american jobs was a signature theme of president Donald Trumps make America Great again campaign. A frequent target of candidate trump was the h1b visa program. The program, created more than 25 years ago, allows American Companies to fill gaps in the workforce from overseas with highly skilled employees, who cant be found in the u. S. Many businesses use the program as intended, but we discovered more and more are taking advantage of loopholes in the law to fire American Workers and replace them with younger, cheaper, temporary Foreign Workers with h1b visas. But before the American Workers walk out the door, they often face the humiliating prospect of having to train the people taking their jobs. Last october, robert harrison, a Senior Telecom engineer at the university of california San Francisco medical center, was called to a meeting at the university with about 80 of his i. T. Coworkers. What did they say to you . Robert harrison we are sorry to inform you that as of february 28, youll no longer have a job. Were going to outsource your position to this company in india. Whitaker to a company in india. Harrison yes, sir. Whitaker harrison was told he could stay on the job, get paid for four more months, and get a bonus, if he trained his replacement. Harrison and now im being told that i h not only going to lose my job, but also have to train these people to take my job. Whitaker are you angry . Harrison pissed. That exceeds angry. Im really not a violent guy, i love people, but ive envisioned myself just backhanding the guy as hes sitting next to me, tryin to learn what i know. And i was like, god, please dont let them send anybody to sit next to me, to shadow me. I i dont want to do this. I really dont. Whitaker harrison and his colleagues staged a protest outside the medical center. His fellow worker, senior systems administrator kurt ho is losing his job, too. He had just trained his replacement from india. Kurt ho i think, for once, were going to stand up as americans and say, enough is enough. Were not gonna take it anymore. Sara blackwell thank you for standing up for what you believe in. Whitaker their rally was organized by this woman, Florida Attorney Sara Blackwell. Blackwell this is about the Companies Making the decision that you are worthless to them whitaker she represents hundreds of u. S. Workers who were fired and replaced by Foreign Workers with h1b visas. Blackwell when you tell someone their real reason for getting rid of these jobs is for cheap foreign labor, that should offend everyone. Whitaker they have to train the worker whos going to take their job . Blackwell right. They are told by their company, if you dont train this person in a way that we approve of them being trained, then you dont get your severance. Whitaker the u. C. S. F. Medical center is a highly regarded staterun institution. Administrators say outsourcing the i. T. Jobs could save 30 million taxpayer dollars over the next five years. Thats a fraction of the universitys 5. 8 billion annual budget, but to robert harrison, its his job. Harrison i cant wrap my mind around training somebody to take my position. You know, its my livelihood. How am i supposed to feel . Whitaker ive heard some workers say that this is like digging your own grave. Is that what it feels like . Harrison it feels worse than that. It feels like, not only am i diggin the grave, but im gettin ready to stab myself in the in the gut and fall into the grave. Whitaker when the h1b visa was created in 1990, it was intended to help the u. S. Attract and hold onto the best and brightest foreign graduates, like engineers and scientists, and provide a pathway to citizenship. At the time, members of congress promised u. S. Workers would be protected. Bruce morrison this legislation protects american jobs. Whitaker former congressman bruce morrison, thenchairman of the immigration committee, authored the bill. You came up with this legislation. What what do you think of what it has become . Morrison im outraged. The h1b has been hijacked, as the main highway to bring people from abroad and displace americans. Whitaker businesses insist the visas are absolutely necessary to compete for the best global talent, and that even more h1b workers are needed to fill job shortages. Nearly every major hightech company, including apple, google, facebook, has employees here on h1b visas. Media companies, too, including cbs. The argument you hear from the hightech firms is that they cant find enough qualified American Workers. Morrison well, there are a lot of qualified American Workers, but the companies will do better financially if they hire the Foreign Worker rather than the american. Whitaker the American Workers are just as skilled as you are . Perhaps even more skilled . Rajesh translated yes. Thats true. Whitaker rajesh works at a major wall street bank, on an h 1b visa. To protect his job, and personal safety, he asked that we change his appearance and name. He was placed at the bank by one of the growing number of outsourcing companies. Most of these Global Staffing firms are based in india. Theyve become multibillion dollar enterprises, supplying American Companies with h1b workers, like rajesh, to replace American Workers. Rajesh said he was never told in india hed be taking americans jobs. Rajesh translated i have to take all of their knowledge in. Basically, i have to steal it. Thats my job description. Whitaker and the American Worker is let go . Rajesh translated yeah. The American Workers lose their job and they also cry while leaving the job. Whitaker they cry . Rajesh translated theyve been working there for 20 years, and suddenly i have taken their job. If i lose a job, i can go back to india. But where can they go . Whitaker you must know that when most nativeborn americans see this going on, they blame you. Rajesh translated yes, but i am not the enemy. The main villains are the Indian Companies and their american corporate clients. They are exploiting us. Whitaker why cant we just say were going to give jobs to Americans First . Morrison well, thats what the statute says, but whitaker but . Morrison they put in a loophole, and the loophole says, if you pay over 60,000, you can do that. And besides that, you dont have to try to find americans. Well, 60,000 is not high pay for this kind of work. People doing this work today easily make 120,000 140,000. Whitaker who put in that loophole . Morrison well, the it was done by congress. But obviously, the industry lobbied for it. Its really a travesty that should never have been allowed to happen. Craig diangelo it wasnt called training your replacement. It was called knowledge transfer. Whitaker Craig Diangelo worked for Northeast Utilities now called eversource and was one of 220 i. T. Workers replaced by h1b visa employees. Diangelo says his replacement, a worker from india, told him he was making half diangelos salary, with no benefits. Diangelo i didnt get laid off for lack of work. I got laid off because somebody cheaper could do my job. Whitaker so, to anyone who would say, youre anti immigrant . Dawn collins no jay palmer thats a lie. Diangelo thats a lie. You dont want to have any animosity toward them, because theyre looking for a better way of life. Whitaker we met with this group of workers, who all had to train replacements. Leo perrero had just received High Performance reviews from disney. When he was called into a personnel meeting, he expected a raise and a promotion. And instead leo perrero i was given the news that in 90 days my job was over and i had to train my replacement. Never in my life did i imagine, until this happened at disney, that i could be sitting at my desk and somebody would be flown in from another country collins right. Perrero sit at my same desk and chair and take over what i was doing. It was the most humiliating and demoralizing thing ive ever gone through in my life. Whitaker the issue was getting little notice until it caught the attention of the trump campaign. Donald trump love you, thank you. Whitaker mr. Trump himself had hired foreign fashion models on h1b visas for his new york modeling agency, but when he saw how the theme of protecting american jobs resonated with his followers, he put Sara Blackwell and fired workers like leo perrero on center stage. Blackwell and theres two reasons theres two words of why this is happening corporate greed. Whitaker attacking the h1b visa program fit perfectly with mr. Trumps message, and tapped into americas simmering anger at the corporate and political status quo. Trump can you believe that . You get laid off and they wont give them severance pay unless they train the people that are replacing you. I mean thats, thats actually demeaning, maybe more than anything else. Whitaker what are these h1b visa workers bringing to the table . Mugesh aghi i think theyre bringing a much different skill level. Whitaker mukesh aghi is president of the u. S. India business council. He has been an executive at indiabased outsourcing companies, and he was president of ibm india. About 70 of the 85,000 h1b visas given out each year go to workers from india. He says the h1b visa is just one part of a burgeoning u. S. India trade relationship that benefits both countries. Aghi india has become a buyer of u. S. Defense equipment. Its a twoway trade which is taking place. So, we cant look at h1b in isolation itself. Whitaker you really believe that the indian workers are better educated, better skilled, have skills American Workers do not have . Aghi no. No. Im not saying that. I have all the respect to the u. S. Worker whitaker so why are they getting the jobs and the americans are losing them . Why are they not being done by American Workers . Aghi well, i think you have to ask the the companies who are taking those decisions. Whitaker because its cheaper. Aghi thats one factor. Every company is out there to make money with the cheapest possible way itself. Whitaker and thats whats happening. Aghi well, i would say so. Morrison the workers being brought in dont know anything more than the workers theyre replacing; they know less. And thats why they have to be retrained or trained by the American Workers who are being laid off. This is not about skills, this is about costs. Whitaker but saving money on labor was not the laws intended purpose. Robert harrison says the money saved cant replace the dedication of his i. T. Team. Harrison so our jobs, theyre theyre not menial jobs. Theyre very important. Somebodys child is laying in the childrens hospital, fightin for their life, and they depend on us. I see parents laying up all night long in the room with their child whos fightin for their life. And youre going to bring somebody in here that has no clue, has no sympathy, dont know the urgency to make sure that everything those people need is supplied . Right now . Its not going to happen. Diangelo were americans. Whitaker Craig Diangelo says at Northeast Utilities, the fired workers pressured to stay and train their replacements launched a quiet protest. Diangelo every one of us that would be let go had an American Flag sticking out the cubicles, row after row after row. As we were let gothose flags were taken down. I was the last person let go. I went in and i took the last picture. There were no more flags left. You have a queasiness in your stomach when you look around and youre saying, this this this cant be possible. This didnt happen. Whitaker but it did happen, to craig and dawn and leo and workers at hundreds of Companies Across the country. Former head of Homeland Security janet napolitano, now president of the university of california, faced a huge public outcry when she got rid of those 80 i. T. Jobs at the medical center. She declined to give us an on camera interview, but stated publicly that the university, didnt use the h1b process in the right way. She instructed the Indian Outsourcing Company to stop using h1b workers. Harrison all right, kurt. Whitaker but that comes too late for kurt ho and robert harrison. Worker give iem hell whitaker three weeks ago, they packed up their final day at the medical center. Harrison its going to be a matter of time before everybody else feels the same burden, the same pinch, the same hurt that were feeling right here at u. C. S. F. Its a matter of time. Dont look now chuck norris is right behind you. I bet you a buck he catches this salt shaker. Youre on. 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All without the hassle of worrying about overages. Or running out of data. Its less than 40 per line per month with 4 lines. And remember, its at ts best, unlimited data deal ever. So get at t, get unlimited and get everyone more for less. Pelley a rare famine emergency has been declared in the youngest nation on earth. South sudan, in east africa, was brought into the world, in 2011, with the help of the united states. But its one of the worlds least developed countries, and now civil war has left it destitute. Five Million People dont know where their next meal is coming from, and of them, 100,000 are facing death. Holding off a catastrophe is the mission of the u. N. s World Food Programme. The w. F. P. Was an american idea, created in 1961, and the u. S. Is still the largest donor. Now, w. F. P. Has launched one of its largest rescues ever, but in south sudan, too many people are fighting for life. Josephine is seven, and down to 24 pounds. Hunger left her at the mercy of disease, and now shes being consumed by tuberculosis. This is why t. B. Used to be called consumption. Josephines mother shooed away the 90 degrees, waiting to be seen by dr. Meroni abraham. How long would a child be in this hospital . Dr. Meroni abraham typically, a child will be staying between two to three weeks. Pelley why so long . Dr. Abraham because the body is already altered. The function is altered. The anatomy is altered. So it will take days, very slowly, to get back to the original form. Pelley solid food could kill them. Nutrition must be reintroduced through milkbased formulas. The twins were 4. 5 pounds at birth, and even after days here, they were still less than half their normal weight. Dr. Abraham he was critically ill, severely dehydrated, not able to feed. And hopefully, well probably reach three kilograms in the coming two, three weeks. Pelley which would be 6. 5 pounds or so . Dr. Abraham yes. Pelley the clinic, in south sudans capital, is operated by an american charity, the International Medical corps. Dr. Abraham was one of two doctors for up to 55,000 people, compressed into squalid camps, stalked by disease a place so much better than where they came from. We headed to the violent region josephine escaped. In a nation as big as texas, in one of the Worlds Largest swamps, there is only one paved road outside the capitol. In the wet season, people in half of south sudan are marooned. Sudan was africas largest nation, ruled from khartoum by people of arab heritage. In the south, african tribes have rebelled since the 1950s, and millions have died. In a quest for peace, the Bush Administration started a humanitarian and diplomatic campaign. 11 billion went into aid, and to train a south Sudanese Government and security force. Five years ago, there was hope. Khartoum no longer ruled over them, and beneath them, there was oil. John prendergast they voted almost unanimously, 99 , to create their own state, to carve the south sudan out of sudan. And within two years, it had crumbled into a fullscale war. Pelley John Prendergast witnessed the stillbirth of a nation. He was an africa specialist in the Clinton White house and now leads the enough project, which works for peace on the continent. People living where we are now have really never known peace. Prendergast and it isnt just war. Mass atrocities are committed with regularity, almost become routine slave raiding, aerial bombing, rape as a tool of war, child soldier recruitment. All the worst of the worst of the war crimes in the geneva conventions are perpetrated regularly in south sudan, and have been throughout the series of wars since the independence of sudan in the 1950s. Pelley in 2013, the leaders of independent south sudans two main ethnic groups, the dinka and the nuer, went to war over oil and power. Prendergast you cant find a road thats been built. You cant find a sewer thats been constructed. You cant find, very rarely can you find a school thats actually been as a result of government investment. The Health Clinics are bare. Money disappears. Pelley stolen . Prendergast just stolen. Pelley we found no sign of that wealth in a village called mayom. Thousands of people crowded behind a white strip. Compelled by the promise of food, they had reached the finish line of a daylong trek through killing fields and drowning land. Peter mckay theyve survived the war of independence. Theyve survived two years of civil war. Many of them have been displaced. The level of orphan children is just staggering. It must be one of the highest in the world here in south sudan. Pelley this was an emergency Food Distribution run by peter mckay for the World Food Programme. Tell me about the orphans. Mckay you will meet women who will have half a dozen children of their own, for example. They will have been displaced four or five times from their locations. They will have five or six children of other women who have died, or disappeared during the conflict. The husbands of all of those women have been killed in the fighting. That is a terrible legacy for this country. Pelley hope arrived at 700 feet and 190 miles an hour. 33 tons of food scattered in the sky, and cratered the earth like a volley of mortars. The w. F. P. Has chartered most of the commercial cargo planes in the world that are rigged for dropping food. As this crew turned for a second run, they readied boxes of fragile cans of cooking oil each labeled with an American Flag. We lashed a camera on one. Manna from heaven, by parachute. The World Food Programme hired what men it could find to heave the cargo. Each bag, 110 pounds. Each man, not much more. Its 352 paces from the drop zone. The mud held them up and the heat beat them down. But they shouted, keep going. We noticed their eyes, fixed on a place beyond want. They had seen hunger in their children and so, anger, fear, and will moved a mountain. What you see here is about half of one plane load, and each plane load will feed 1,600 people for 30 days. Now, that seems like a lot, except the town of mayom has 50,000 people who need food, so its going to take 27 air drops. The south sudan Emergency Response costs 1. 5 million a day. We watched that crowd yesterday wait all day for those airdrops, and at the end of the day, some of those people left with nothing. Owen davies i had to personally reassure several people, dont worry, more food is coming. The planes will keep coming. Pelley owen davies and Brian Langdon are from new york. They lead a w. F. P. Team that arrives weeks before the air drop. They gather every member of every family to register for a ration card. Brian langdon we have to have everybody show up, so we know that, you know, the food isnt being misdirected or misused. Pelley what do you mean by that . Davies you might have a situation where if you dropped, you know, 100 metric tons of food, you dont know how its being distributed. It might be distributed to their friends. It might get diverted to another community entirely. They might start charging for it. So really, the goal is to reduce that by putting it in the hands of every individual household. Pelley the ration card is supposed to be a guarantee, which prevents panic at the drop zone. But after we left mayom, the fighting erupted again. The airdrops stopped. And 7,000 left with little or nothing. Three million south sudanese have been forced from their homes. Some can be reached by water. And the w. F. P. Pushed 200 tons of grain through a papyrus swamp called the sudd, arabic for the barrier. The destination is a refugee camp called mingkaman. About two years ago, during the war, 70,000 people were stampeded from their homes and set up the camp, and then in early 2016, there was more fighting and another 30,000 people joined them. 100,000 people, in desperate need of food. It can cost 150 to deliver one bag by plane, but as little as 21 by boat. It is more dangerous, but shaun hughes, who showed us the w. F. P. s operation, said his budget is falling far behind. Shaun hughes right now, Food Assistance is the only thing that stands between hundreds of thousands of people and absolute catastrophe. There are 4. 8 Million People across this country that are very severely food insecure and in need of assistance. Were reaching, on a monthly basis, just over two million. Pelley youre reaching half the people who are in need. Hughes yes. Pelley half, until the war intervenes. This was the World Food Programme warehouse filling up for the emergency. But the week after we where there, a militia looted everything. 20 million in food and vehicles, gone. Several humanitarian organizations think of south sudan as too dangerous a place to work. Hughes there are certainly risks. There are a lot of risks to the security of our staff. Ive personally lost colleagues working for w. F. P. While ive been working here. Pelley and yet, its worth it to press on . Hughes there are millions of lives that depend on us continuing to do our work. So we will take every measure that we can to keep our staff safe, but our commitment is very much with the people of south sudan. Pelley thats a commitment the 100,000 people at our destination could not live without. Hoisting those same 110pound bags, like the men, the women were lean from hunger, but stronger for fighting it. Let me ask you, mother, what does this food mean to you . This sustains me and keeps me healthy, she said. And to the people who sent you this food, you say what . Woman to the people who are helping us, were in a warzone thats hard to reach. We need everything food, clothes, plastic sheets to cover my hut and hoes for farming. Pelley for josephine and the twins we met earlier, food has been enough. This is josephine now 42 pounds, up from 24. And the twins are up to 13 pounds each. Where does it go from here . Prendergast door number one, which most people expect, is that these leaders, the competing factions, the kleptocrats that are running this country, will keep doing what theyre doing. Door number two is a less likely scenario, but not impossible, and that is that the leadership here, because of international pressure, because of the citizenrys demands for peace, will start to make decisions that will be at least a little more in the broader Public Interest than just their own pocketbooks. And so, thats the kind of future that i think every south sudanese wants to see. Pelley for now, they just hope to see another plane. Each sack of food will carry three people for 30 days. But there is no guarantee that there will be another. Knowing where you stand. Its never been easier. Except when it comes to your retirement plan. But at fidelity, were making Retirement Planning clearer. And it all starts with getting your Fidelity Retirement score. In 60 seconds, youll know where you stand. And together, well help you make decisions for your plan. To keep you on track. Time to think of your future its your retirement. Know where you stand. Gus is a handful. We dont know what this thing is, but someday, gus will because this is the thing that gus will build that will change the world. And this is the thing that could change gus world. Gus doesnt know what this thing is, but we know what this thing is. This is the thing well help gus get rid of. And without this thing, gus can grow up to build this thing, whatever that thing is, because thats what we do. We do health things, and we do those things for northern california, stahl there are not many shows on television that deserve to be called true american institutions, but one of them is surely sesame street. Its been on the air now for almost 50 years. When sesame street began in 1969, it was considered an experiment. The question could television be used to educate Young Children . Well, research proved the answer to be yes, and the nonprofit Childrens Television workshop, now called sesame workshop, that created the show, has been refining and expanding that mission ever since. Everything from abcs and 123s, to race, and even death. In a few weeks, sesame street, which now airs on hbo as well as its longtime home on pbs, will take on its latest challenge introducing a new kid on the street a muppet named julia, who has autism. For many of us, these opening notes are a trip down memory lane. Sally, youve never seen a street like sesame street. Everything happens here stahl . To a street we watched as kids, with our kids, or both. Bert do you know that you, uh, have a banana in your ear . Ernie what was that, bert . Stahl with muppet characters as known and beloved as any human tv star. Bert will you just take that banana out of your ear . Ernie im sorry, youll have to speak a little louder, bert. I cant hear you. I have a banana in my ear stahl today, almost half a century later, sesame street is shot on a soundstage in astoria, queens, with one of the cameramen who filmed the First Episode still on the job. The sesame street set is a vibrant, upbeat place, with puppeteers on rolling stools down below, and the furry and feathery creatures they bring to life in the sometimes crowded space above. Abby it was a little awkward. Whaaaaaa big bird im sorry stahl the puppeteers figure out how to position their muppet by watching the scene on monitors. The day we visited, they were filming the debut of the new muppet character, julia, who has autism. The story begins with julias friends, muppets elmo and abby cadabby, introducing her to big bird. Big bird oh, hi, julia. Im big bird. Nice to meet you. Oh. Julia . Stahl but big bird is confused when julia doesnt respond. Christine ferraro i think the big discussion right at the start was, how do we do this . How do we talk about autism . Stahl Christine Ferraro has been a writer at sesame street for 25 years, during which time the frequency of autism diagnoses has multiplied. The chances of a little kid, two, three, four years old, having some kind of a relationship with another kid with autism is pretty high. Ferraro exactly. Especially once they hit school age, because theyll be in their classrooms. Abby julia, youre so creative julia laughs stahl but how to portray autism . Ferraro its tricky because autism is not one thing, because it is different for every Single Person who has autism. There is an expression that goes, if youve met one person with autism, youve met one person with autism. Stahl sesame street has always based its characters and content on extensive research. They regularly bring in educators and child psychologists. In the case of julia, they also worked with autism organizations to decide which characteristics she should have and how best to normalize autism for all children. Ferraro so that when they encounter them in their real life, its familiar. And they see that these these can be their friends too. Abby hi, miss lesley, youlol today. Stahl well, so do you. During a break in the filming, julia and her friends did for us what theyre hoping to do for millions with this episode. And hi, julia. Help the audience understand when a child with autism doesnt react the way one might expect. Big bird, when you first met julia big bird uhhuh . Stahl she didnt answer you either. Big bird yeah, thats right. And ii thought that maybe she didnt like me. Elmo yeah, but you know, we had to explain to big bird that julia likes big bird. Its just that julia has autism. So sometimes it takes her a little longer to do things. Stahl youre explaining her, because youve come to understand her so well. Elmo well, were pretty good at understanding people. We live with a grouch. laughs oscar what do you want . Stahl sesame street has been around so long now that its hard emtoema r educational. But sesame streets creator, joan ganz cooney, remembers it well. Joan ganz cooney it was just nutty cartoons with no purpose at all. I mean, i would watch them and just be appalled. Stahl as youre talking, im seeing a cat slam against a wall, be reduced to nothing, slide down, and come back to life. laughter ganz cooney yes, that was commercial television. Stahl ganz cooney, then a Public Television producer, was asked by the Carnegie Corporation to study whether television could be something different. Ganz cooney the question being, do you think television could teach children . Stahl ironically, she says the answer was right in front of her, and everyone else. In beer. Ganz cooney they were singing beer commercials, children were. laughs well, so obviously, they had learned. Stahl theyd learned the jingle . Ganz cooney so if a commercial could teach beer, couldnt it teach one one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten . Stahl and that became the model ganz cooney spelled out in her 50page report proposing what would become sesame street. Ganz cooney and we did. We created little commercials. Boys and girls, have you met the 26 letters called the alphabet . Stahl the new show had a particular target lowincome children who were arriving at school less prepared than their middleclass peers. So ganz cooney deliberately made the set a gritty new york street urban kids could relate to, with an interracial cast that got the show banned early on in mississippi. Nationwide, though, it was a hit. Kids and parents loved jim hensons muppets. Girl 8, 9, 9, 10, 11. You got pretty eyes. Kermit so do you. Stahl and testing showed kids who watched were learning. Sometimes the lessons were about real life mr. Hooper im your neighborhood friend, mr. Hooper. Stahl as when the actor who played beloved shopkeeper mr. Hooper passed away, and the show decided to address the subject of death head on. Big bird tada adults oh, look at that. Big bird i cant wait till he sees it. Say, where is he . Stahl you could have changed actors. Ganz cooney yes. But we decided sesame street had always dealt with the real. And it was real, so we decided not to just replace him and call the man mr. Hooper and hope they didnt notice. Maria uh, dont you remember we told you mr. Hooper died. Hes dead. Big bird oh yeah, i remember. Well, ill give it to him when he comes back. Susan big bird, when, when people die, they dont come back. Big bird ever . Stahl over the years, sesame street did segments about other challenging subjects, like skin color, disabilities, and prejudice. Gulliver in my neighborhood, birds only play with birds, so im not playing with a snuffleupagus. Snuffleupagus ohhh, that hurts my feelings. Stahl less wellknown is a branch of sesame, separate from the tv show, that creates online videos like this, and other materials. Theyre called social impact initiatives, and theyre targeted at specific communities of kids. Abby this one is where i live with my mommy, and this one is where i live with my daddy. Stahl . Like children of divorce, kids from military families. Elmo its like a robot hand. Stahl . And the nearly three million kids with a parent incarcerated. Muppet my dads in jail. Stahl the focus on autism began as one of these social impact projects, with videos. Mom my son louie is six, and he has autism. Stahl . And an online animated storybook about a little girl named julia. The initiative was so well received, sesame decided to bring julia to the broadcast which meant designing a new muppet. Rollie krewson this is our eye drawer. Stahl look at that this is where muppets are born, at the jim henson workshop, at the work station of master puppet creator rollie krewson. Krewson the male eyes have no eyelashes. And the female eye have eyelashes. Stahl because julia has autism, were there special challenges in building her . Krewson yes, actually, because when she gets upset, she flaps her hands. So she has two separate sets of arms. She has a set of arms that does this and then she has a set of arms when shes fine and okay. So they would switch on set. Stahl and of course every muppet needs a puppeteer. But, not every puppeteer has the connection Stacey Gordon does to the role. Gordon is the mother of a son with autism. She traveled all the way from phoenix to audition for the part. The idea that there will be a child with autism on sesame street tell me what that means to you. Gordon it means that our kids are important enough to be seen in society. Having julia on the show, and seeing all of the characters treat her with compassion. Stahl and like her. Gordon and like her. Stahl thats big. Gordon yeah, its huge. Stahl gordon told us she channeled her sons experiences for a tough scene where julias heightened sensitivity to noise triggers a meltdown. Julia noise, noise. Alan the sirens are bothering you . Gordon its important for kids without autism to see what autism can look like. Julia break, break. Gordon had my sons friends been exposed to his behaviors through something that they had seen on tv, before they experienced them in the classroom, they might not have been frightened. They might not have been worried when he cried. They would have known that he plays in a different way, and that thats okay. Stahl he didnt have that. Gordon he didnt stahl but maybe stahl kids from now on will. Gordon and thats a beautiful thing. Abby youanjuli julia play, play, play. Stahl also beautiful to gordon, the message of inclusion at the heart of one of the episodes most memorable scenes. Ferraro they decide to play tag together. But julias so excited that shes jumping up and down. Thats a thing that can be typical of some kids with autism. Abby oh, julia, youre bouncing like a rubber ball. Boing, boing, boing. Elmo boing, boing. Julia boing. Ferraro and then it turns into a game where theyre all jumping like her. So it was a very easy way to show that with a very slight accommodation, they can meet her where she is, and get something out of it themselves. Elmo this is fun, julia. Abby hey, its a whole new game, its boing tag julia boing abby ah now im it big bird you know, i think id like to be a friend of julia, too. Stahl she is going to be a recurring character . Ferraro thats the hope. Stahl and will she become a major character . Ferraro well see. Stahl youd like to have her become a major character, i can see. Ferraro i would i would love her to be. I would love her to be not julia, the kid on sesame street who has autism. I would like her to be just julia. Elmo yeah, we really like julia. Shes really special to us, miss lesley. Stahl julia, are you having fun with your new friends . Julia fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun. Elmo thats a yes. laughs meet the mother and son behind sesame streets latest muppet. Ill see you later julia, im sure. Bye. Go to 60minutesovertime. Com. Sponsored by pfizer. Because there are options. Like an unjection™. Xeljanz xr. A once daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. Xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and joint damage, even without methotrexate. Xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. 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