Anyone Can Play

Full Episode description

This episode is the fourth in our series Imagine Equity: Six New Stories About Race, Identity, and Making Things Right.

This week in The Imagine Neighborhood™, Macho Supreme and Count Vacula are using their imaginations to turn a cardboard box into the spaceship from their favorite movie, Nebula Trek! But every time Vac tries to jump in and help Macho save the galaxy, Macho won’t let him play.

Macho thinks that Vac can’t play as his favorite characters from Nebula Trek—because in the movie, those characters are white, and Vac is Asian. Scotty explains to Macho that he has excluded Vac, and that is not okay. To exclude means to leave someone out, or tell them they can’t play.

When you exclude, you get stuck: the game is less fun, the story is less interesting, and people’s feelings are hurt. Instead, the kind thing to do is to use your imagination to make room in the story for everyone. Make it okay for everyone to play!

If you want even more of The Imagine Neighborhood™, sign up for our newsletter. Each week, you’ll get additional discussion questions and activity ideas for kids and grown-ups. Keep sharing your ideas, drawings, and creations with us—we love seeing what you come up with, and you might see it featured on our Infinite Refrigerator!

This show is supported by a generous grant from The Allstate Foundation. The Allstate Foundation works to empower youth to reach their full potential and build the just, equitable, and healthy world we all deserve. To learn more, visit AllstateFoundation.org.