Imagine: U.S. civics lessons reframed as a call to action, set to rap, R&B, and pop music sung by some of today’s top artists, and skillfully animated, in a show created by Emmy Award winner (and lesbian mom) Chris Nee, with a theme song by Grammy Award winner (and bisexual mom) Meshell Ndegeocello, and an episode featuring Grammy Award winner (and lesbian mom) Brandi Carlile. Happy July 4, everyone—this thing exists! Listen to Carlisle’s song here and learn how to catch the rest of this great new show.
Okay, I’m overemphasizing the queer mom content because that’s my jam, but We the People, premiering today on Netflix, is even more diverse than that. The new series of 10 animated shorts is executive produced by Nee, Kenya Barris (“black-ish”), Barack and Michelle Obama, and Priya Swaminathan and Tonia Davis, co-heads of Higher Ground Productions, the Obamas’ production company. It features songs performed by Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Brandi Carlile, Cordae, Andra Day, Daveed Diggs, Brittany Howard, H.E.R., Kyle, Adam Lambert, Robert Lopez, Janelle Monáe, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Bebe Rexha, plus a spoken poem by Amanda Gorman, covering topics such as the Bill of Rights, immigration, the courts, the branches of government, active citizenship, and more, animated in a variety of styles. Each episode is four to five minutes long, including credits.
If you think this sounds a little like the classic show Schoolhouse Rock, you’d be right. In a press statement, Nee cited that show as an influence, along with singer Marlo Thomas’ 1972 album (and later television show) Free to Be You and Me and Broadway phenomenon Hamilton. “I always wondered what it would be like to try to capture big, social change content in song,” she said. “And then recently, as a country, it really felt as if we started getting further and further away from basics and what it means to be an American. We just didn’t have a common language anymore for civics. And, as the dialogue continues around voting rights and accessibility in the U.S., we need a common language to talk about civics for kids. But we needed to make it cool.”
Unlike Schoolhouse Rock, however, We the People is aimed not at younger children but at teens (President Obama’s suggestion, according to the New York Times), a critical age for determining political involvement or apathy. And the emphasis of We the People is not only on learning how our government works, but on why one should care and how one can take action to create positive change. As a parent, I’ll opine that there’s nothing in these videos that would be inappropriate for tweens, either, although their interest in the topics may not be as strong yet. Some of the social ills that are shown in a few episodes could be intense for younger children; use your own parental judgment.
The Obamas said in a statement about the show that “It’s not a lecture, it’s not a textbook—it’s an anthem that calls a rising generation of young people to take part in shaping their democracy for the better.”
While all of the episodes carry messages for all, Episode 8 may be of particular interest here. The topic is “The Courts,” and the song is “All Rise,” sung by Andra Day. It takes us through a day with a young woman, showing how various Supreme Court decisions impact her life, from legalizing interracial marriages to ensuring consumer protections to guaranteeing students’ freedom of speech. At one point, she joins a Pride march, where we see numerous queer parents and their kids, among others. Obergefell v. Hodges, the decision that legalized marriage for same-sex couples nationwide, gets a nod—and it turns out that the protagonist is queer as well. See a still from that episode above—and note Nee herself (in the red polka dot shirt) and her son, which she confirmed for me on Twitter.
Nee also spoke of introducing her own son to the idea of civic engagement:
I’m a little bit of a civics geek and I’m a parent, too. My son is 14 and from when he was a baby, I would make him watch all of the major speeches, watch the process of government. I actually love the idea of governance. And I remember always feeling that even in times when our nation was deeply divided, we would find a way to come together. There was always a deep sense of what being an American was despite which side of the aisle you were on. But obviously, I think we’ve lost that sense. I also think more than anything, we just need young people not to feel powerless, but to feel powerful. And to understand that on the most basic levels, that they have the opportunity to change the things that they think are wrong in this world.
If some of the songs offer a slightly idealized view of our government, they also offer us a vision of what could be: a Black woman president; a Muslim woman on the Supreme Court—and most importantly, an engaged and informed populace working to make this a better country for all.
This is the first of two shows Nee is launching this month. The second, premiering on Netflix July 13, is the kids’ show Ridley Jones, about an adventurous six-year-old girl who lives in a museum. Her friends include a nonbinary bison and a mummy girl with two dads. (See more in this post.)
Listen to a preview of Carlile’s song about the First Amendment, “Speak Your Mind,” here, and catch the full, animated version on Netflix, along with the other episodes of We the People. You can also watch the series trailer and a few of the episodes free and in full below.
