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You matter. You are an important person. You are valuable.

Sesame Street/YouTube

Jesse Jackson talks to children on Sesame Street

Sesame Street is a national treasure.

I think we can all agree on that.

Sesame Street invented the idea that television could teach children, not just entertain them.

It taught kids letters and numbers and introduced them to talented and famous people, from Savion Glover to Kofi Annan.

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This orchestra's blind audition proves bias sneaks in when you least expect it

The funny thing about bias is, often times we don't even realize it's creeping into our minds, coloring everything we see.

Photo (cropped) by Thomas Roessler/Wikimedia Commons.

An audience watches the orchestra inside of Symphony Hall Boston.

In her TED talk, "What does my headscarf mean to you?" Yassmin Abdel-Magied told this story:

In 1952, the Boston Symphony was looking to diversify it's male-dominated orchestra, so it conducted an experiment with a series of blind auditions.

For the auditions, the musicians would be playing behind a screen, in an effort to remove all chance of bias and allow for a merit based selection only - a selection that would hopefully increase the number of women in the orchestra.

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Education

A boy told his teacher she can't understand him because she's white. Her response is on point.

'Be the teacher America's children of color deserve, because we, the teachers, are responsible for instilling empathy and understanding in the hearts of all kids. We are responsible for the future of this country.'

Photo by John Pike. Used with permission.

Emily E. Smith is no ordinary teacher.

This article originally appeared on 12.07.15

Fifth-grade teacher Emily E. Smith is not your ordinary teacher.

She founded The Hive Society — a classroom that's all about inspiring children to learn more about their world ... and themselves — by interacting with literature and current events. Students watch TED talks, read Rolling Stone, and analyze infographics. She even has a long-distance running club to encourage students to take care of their minds and bodies.

Smith is such an awesome teacher, in fact, that she recently received the 2015 Donald H. Graves Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Writing.

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race

You matter. You are an important person. You are valuable.

Sesame Street is a national treasure.

Sesame Street invented the idea that television could teach children, not just entertain them.

The most important message Sesame Street sent to its millions of young viewers was this: You matter. You are an important person. You are valuable.

These kids chant a message that we should give to every kid on earth.

The funny thing about bias is, often times we don't even realize it's creeping into our minds, coloring everything we see.

In 1952, the Boston Symphony was looking to diversify it's male-dominated orchestra, so it conducted an experiment with a series of blind auditions.

To their surprise, their initial audition results still skewed male.

Once the musicians removed their shoes, almost 50% of the women made it past the first audition. The moral of the story? Overcoming unconscious bias isn't as easy as one might think.

That's partly why Yassmin is somewhat forgiving when it comes to the assumptions that come along with her headscarf.

Bias is a natural response to living in a society that normalizes certain types of people and behaviors while it "others" anything that's different.

If bias happens unconsciously, how in the world do we correct it?

Want to dig deeper? You're in luck!

'Dude where the hell did you get a black kid??'

Gerod Roth posted a photo of himself with a coworker's child last month.

Of course, this being on the Internet and all, Cayden's mom quickly learned about the awful things being said about her child.

Instead of firing back at Roth with a few choice words, Shelton responded by letting the world see the real Cayden.

The Internet caught wind of #HisNameIsCayden. And unlike Roth's friends on Facebook, there were some really fabulous responses.

In the aftermath of the comments on the initial photo revealing Roth's penchant for racist humor, Roth has since lost his job.

Sometimes the Internet can be a truly awful place...

Baseball great Jackie Robinson's telegram to the White House is A+.

Jackie Robinson was an amazing baseball player with serious conviction.

Real change doesn't happen all at once. But we get there faster when voters speak up and say they expect more from our elected leaders.

There's no doubt about it, Robinson was hardcore. He did not sleep on the quest for equality.

Robinson may not have gotten what he wanted right off the bat, but demanding more and not giving up hope was vital to keep the momentum going and build real change.

Bit by bit, we're building a more equal country.

Home run.

A fascinating look at driver psychology.

You missed a study that illuminates the very real dangers of literally "walking while black."

And the drivers who did stop for black pedestrians tended to crowd the crosswalk, giving black pedestrians less room to cross safely.

Studies like this don't necessarily mean everyone behind the wheel is racist. But it's likely that implicit biases are at work.

But there are ways to combat both unsafe walking conditions and our own biases.

'Be the teacher America's children of color deserve, because we, the teachers, are responsible for instilling empathy and understanding in the hearts of all kids. We are responsible for the future of this country.'

Fifth-grade teacher Emily E. Smith is not your ordinary teacher.

But in her acceptance speech for her award, she made it clear that it took a turning point in her career before she really got it:

And that effort? Absolutely worth it.

Smith now identifies not just as an English teacher, but as a social justice teacher.

As Smith put it, "We, the teachers, are responsible for instilling empathy and understanding in the hearts of all kids. We are responsible for the future of this country."

Not all questions are harmless.

If we're being honest, we all make assumptions about other people, right?

The fact is, though, that people of color deal with other people's assumptions constantly.

Let's agree to fix this.