Age 7

Summary

The film "Age 7 in America" delves into the lives of a diverse group of seven-year-olds, capturing their thoughts, dreams, and the socio-economic realities they face. Inspired by a British documentary series, the film follows children from rich, poor, and middle-class backgrounds across different US regions. It paints a picture of their varied lives, exploring themes of race, wealth, aspirations, and innocence. These children, through their candid conversations and interactions, offer a mirror to today's society and possibly a prophecy for tomorrow, with plans to revisit them at ages 14, 21, and 28.

Highlights

• The documentary offers a candid look at seven-year-old children from various backgrounds across the US. 🎥
• Children discuss their families, dreams, and what they wish for in the future. 🌟
• The film tackles serious topics like race, poverty, and future aspirations through the lens of youth. 🌍
• Viewers witness the innocence and honesty of children as they express their thoughts on the world. 🚸
• The documentary provides a unique snapshot of America through the eyes of its youngest generation. 🇺🇸

Key Takeaways

• Diverse childhood experiences shape future adults. 👶
• Children's dreams reflect societal aspirations. 🌈
• Economic disparity is evident even at a young age. 💰
• Friendship knows no boundaries. 🤝
• Children's innocence offers fresh perspectives on complex issues. 🍭

Overview

Age 7 in America is a heartwarming and thought-provoking documentary that chronicles the lives of children from diverse backgrounds and regions in the United States. Through candid conversations and everyday moments, the film captures their innocence, wisdom, and honest perspectives about life. Whether discussing their dreams of becoming doctors, teachers, or even the President, these children open up about their realities and aspirations, shedding light on the societal fabric of America.

The film highlights how socio-economic factors, cultural backgrounds, and familial structures shape the perspectives and futures of these young individuals. We hear from kids living in affluent suburbs, bustling cities, and even temporary shelters. Their varied experiences with wealth, racial identity, and family dynamics provide a multi-dimensional view of childhood in America.

Viewers are invited into the world of these children as they navigate big dreams and everyday challenges. From discussions about what it means to be rich or poor to reflections on racial differences and future goals, the film sparks important conversations about childhood, diversity, and the future. With plans to follow these kids into adulthood, the documentary promises a compelling saga of growth and change.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Overview The chapter titled 'Introduction and Overview' begins with a welcoming background music. It introduces the concept of the project, inspired by a British documentary that followed seven-year-olds starting in the 1960s, tracking them every seven years as they grew older, including when they reached 35 and had children. The American version of this project begins with this introduction to its own journey.
• 00:30 - 02:00: Meet the Children The chapter 'Meet the Children' introduces readers to a group of seven-year-old children named Lewis, Ashton, Kenisha, and others from various backgrounds across the country. These children represent a diverse mix of economic statuses, racial, and geographical backgrounds, reflecting the broader society. The chapter sets the stage for exploring their lives and hinting at their future paths.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Life in New York The chapter titled "Life in New York" revolves around seven-year-old children meeting each other for the first time. The children have a unique way of reflecting facets of our lives, despite their distinctive individuality. The chapter explores their thoughts about their own lives, their perspectives on adults, and the world they inhabit.
• 03:00 - 05:00: Life in Chicago The chapter 'Life in Chicago' reflects on observations and judgments of today's society and prophecies for tomorrow, while providing a personal narrative. It begins with a brief discussion about taking actions, marked by an interjection of music, indicating perhaps a shift in the narrative tone or focus. It explores the conditions and experiences of children living in urban environments, specifically highlighting the life of a child residing in a shelter on New York’s Lower East Side. This connection points towards broader social issues and human conditions prevalent in metropolitan settings, emphasizing the juxtaposition of life in Chicago and references to experiences in New York.
• 05:00 - 07:00: Life in Los Angeles The chapter titled 'Life in Los Angeles' focuses on the transient and unstable living situation of a person named Lei and their family. It highlights the challenges of needing temporary housing and the theme of homelessness. The narrative reveals that Lei has moved six times in seven years, signifying the precariousness of their living conditions. The family structure is depicted with complexity, comprising seven children, a mother, two or three fathers, and a grandmother. This portrays a picture of a large, possibly fragmented family navigating the difficulties of maintaining a stable home in Los Angeles.
• 07:00 - 10:00: Children's Views on Drugs and Safety The chapter discusses the family structure of a child, including various family members such as uncles, aunts (referred to as 'Titi'), parents, and siblings. The conversation reveals the child's immediate living situation, with specific mention of the number of people living together in the household.
• 10:00 - 13:00: Religion and Beliefs The chapter 'Religion and Beliefs' follows Kate, who is growing up on Manhattan's affluent Upper East Side. The narrative introduces her friends, Lacy and Alexis, as all three girls attend a prestigious educational institution in the area. The reference to '11 people living 11 people with me 100 blocks north of Lewis' suggests an exploration of various living situations and possibly their beliefs or religious affiliations in this specific urban setting.
• 13:00 - 15:00: Future Aspirations The chapter explores the environment and rules of a prestigious private school in York, emphasizing the importance of wearing the correct uniform. The uniform acts as a symbol of identity and belonging to the school community. The text suggests strict adherence to rules, noting that students who do not comply with the uniform policy, even in kindergarten, may face severe consequences such as suspension. This reflects the school's commitment to discipline and the values they wish to instill in their students.
• 15:00 - 19:00: Reflections on Race This chapter, titled 'Reflections on Race,' involves a discussion about the consequences and definitions of being suspended versus expelled from school. It explores the implications of these disciplinary actions on students, with a focus on being sent home immediately or being extended for a longer period. The conversation may reflect on how such measures impact students' academic life and possibly relate to broader themes of race and educational equity.
• 19:00 - 22:00: Learning and Growing The chapter titled 'Learning and Growing' explores Ashton's life transition from the bustling streets of New York to a peaceful suburb in Lincoln, Nebraska. Ashton reflects on his future aspirations, expressing a desire to live in a house similar to the one he currently inhabits, highlighting his appreciation for his big backyard and the presence of his friends nearby.
• 22:00 - 25:00: Wishes and Dreams The chapter titled 'Wishes and Dreams' takes place on the south side of Chicago, specifically at the Robert Taylor Homes, which is one of the largest public housing projects in the United States. The narrative focuses on Leroy, a resident who has lived on the 7th floor for five years. He spends his time playing on a small walkway, bounded by a chain-link fence, which he refers to as his porch.
• 25:00 - 27:00: Conclusion The conclusion discusses the challenges and fears faced by a person who rides their bike on the porch to prevent it from being stolen. The narrative includes a conversation between two individuals, highlighting the danger of having the bike stolen in the park and mentioning Kenisha, a classmate who has lived in the projects all her life.

Age 7 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] welcome to age s in America the idea for this film came from a documentary about seven-year-olds made in Britain in the 1960s a camera followed the same children every seven years including this year as they turned 35 with Children of their own here we're starting out with our own America
• 00:30 - 01:00 seven-year-olds you'll meet Lewis Ashton Kenisha and some other children from all over the country they're rich poor and in the middle they're from the North and South they're black white brown and yellow like the rest of us so now let's take a glance over our shoulders and a glimpse into an unknown future
• 01:00 - 01:30 these seven-year-olds are meeting each other for the very first time s on banana I know the banana they reflect us in a variety of ways yet they're also unique what do they think of their lives of us of the world we're giving them look at the baby I'm the B mother and your mother's proba say n o watch
• 01:30 - 02:00 this I made you should do that [Music] pleas we look at them and we see judgments on today Prophecies of tomorrow but first and best we see kids our first child lives on New York's Lower East Side in a shelter for people
• 02:00 - 02:30 needing temporary housing a home for the homeless it's the sixth place leis has lived in his seven [Music] years how many people in your family how many people this is too hard I bet be counting seven kids one mother two fathers three fathers one Grandma one grand
• 02:30 - 03:00 father lots of tities lots of you know uncles and everything do all those people live with you right now no I only got two two uncles one Titi my mother my father and and six kids living my other brother's in Milwaukee my big brother so that's how many that's how many there's
• 03:00 - 03:30 11 people living 11 people living with me 100 blocks north of Lewis Kate is growing up on Manhattan's affluent Upper East Side these are Kate's friends locy yes and Alexis all three girls attend one of New
• 03:30 - 04:00 York's most prestigious and competitive private schools I think that why they make us wear uniforms is because how they know that we're a nigh and Gill girl and also because it's a symbol of nting Gale it's something that nighting Gale wants girls to be what happens to someone who doesn't wear the right uniform if they break the rules which they shouldn't do I think they should be sent home no they'll be suspended suspended even in kindergarten
• 04:00 - 04:30 what does that mean is that fair suspended means that you're kicked out of the school and you can't come to it anymore uh-uh that's expelled it's suspended means when you are out for a few weeks a month or something like that and then you come back to school expelled means that you you are out of school forever and you can't come back I think um the the if the they should be sent home immediately and extended for a month
• 04:30 - 05:00 a long way from The Busy streets of New York Ashton lives in a gentle suburb of Lincoln Nebraska what kind of house would you like to live in when you grow up um one dad had live in right now something like the one that I live in right now I like my backyard because it's a big backyard and I have a lot of friends around here what other sounds are you
• 05:00 - 05:30 hearing as we walk on the south side of Chicago the Robert Taylor homes are one of the largest public housing projects in the country Leroy has lived here on the 7th floor for 5 years he plays on a small walkway bounded by a chainlink fence he calls it his porch
• 05:30 - 06:00 how come you have to ride your bike up here on the porch so nobody won't take it from but what happens if you ride your bike down below in the park they going to push me off of it and take it five buildings away ly's classmate Kenisha has lived in the same projects all her life
• 06:00 - 06:30 we going to move if I move I'mma Be I'mma have me I'mma have me a um one of those those house a house and then I'mma have me a playground in a backyard so I don't got to go hly nowhere the um go to a playground I'm going to live in a home
• 06:30 - 07:00 or I might live out of Florida with my uncle cuz he he he he was fighting me two miles to the west of the projects Douglas Vicky and Mike live in a traditionally polish neighborhood they all have grandparents just down the street
• 07:00 - 07:30 trick or Tre thank you the three children are classmates at the local Catholic school he ran for student council and he got picked he ran for student council he got picked I ran for student council and I got picked yeah every and everybody follows us it's like because they always want to play with us further to the West in a Chicago suburb Eric is hard at work in his place
• 07:30 - 08:00 playroom and I don't have a brother or sister besides my dog so I'm sometimes when I have when I used to not have any friends or he didn't want to play with me my only friend didn't I just said I wish I had a brother Brandon lives in a wealthy suburb and attends the same prep school as Eric both boys commute to the school campus at the University of
• 08:00 - 08:30 Chicago I'd like to live in a mansion what would you like to live in Brandon middle but I like to have a big land because that's nice like maybe at a pool or something you can't waste that much money that fast although they're all in and around the same city these Seven Chicago children live in Worlds that barely touch
• 08:30 - 09:00 do you feel safe in the neighborhood you live in I feel I feel funny safe I feel safe if they don't shooting I don't think about it unless they point the gun then I run the house when they shoot know what I'mma do I'mma roll down the stairs
• 09:00 - 09:30 does anyone ever get murdered in your neighborhood oh no how about robberies are there robberies in your neighborhood yes my snowblower got stolen but but the robber couldn't carry it the police got it back are there any gangs in the neighborhoods where you live gangs like gang members like El Capone I earn any that I know they'll put one F on there and then start spinning around shooting up and down stuff have you ever seen people
• 09:30 - 10:00 shoot guns yeah they be shoting building then sometimes Boy out they at then they said boo his ey was laying on the floor I saw her downstairs when I was going to school do you think it's better to live in the city or in the country country why there isn't pretty thing about flowers and
• 10:00 - 10:30 stuff in the um in the city and there's lots of them in the country and there is no ponds which I like to fish Joey who's being raised a Jehovah's Witness lives in rural Georgia where a tranquil Southern childhood still exists Edie goes to school with Joey her family has lived in this area for Generations
• 10:30 - 11:00 since I found my jump rope I jump rope play sometimes with my little brother and I play in the water and I ride my bicycle and I got to my grandma house you think you'll stay in the country for the rest of your life I don't think so but I hope so the country you have a lot of space and city is crowded with cars and
• 11:00 - 11:30 people Los Angeles the new Ellis Island contains the largest number of immigrants and refugees in the United States Selena was born here after her parents immigrated from China and Vietnam Al here in Southern California the typical Americans Heritage is no longer European but Asian African or Latin American do you think it's better to live in China or to live in America America why I like it a lot cuz I was
• 11:30 - 12:00 born in America what do you do on the weekend watch TV all the time every day who do you play with the nobody why not oh no I keep playing by myself that's
• 12:00 - 12:30 why do you prefer to play by yourself for the Immigrant child words themselves can be barriers Julio came to Los Angeles from El Salvador as a baby although his school is bilingual the language he hears both on the playground and at home is
• 12:30 - 13:00 Spanish is it better to speak English or Spanish in America
• 13:00 - 13:30 born in Los Angeles Michael lives in one of its fashionable Beach communities you want to see the world Alaska South Pole north pole Africa China Tokyo I want to meet new people and I want to talk Japanese most of my relatives are Japanese and I want to talk to them like the way they talk talk
• 13:30 - 14:00 because and I mostly go to sushi a lot and I want to talk to the sushi chefs these are the American citizens of the 21st century the leaders laborers and managers of tomorrow they're both mirrors and crystal balls of our society you okay
• 14:00 - 14:30 [Music] yeah if you could live anywhere in the world where would you want to live walkie cuz it's quite there there's only
• 14:30 - 15:00 one One Cop cuz it's there's only one cop in that in that place that's the only cop there he he don't have to work that much because that place is quiet nobody vibs there what's the difference between El Salvador in Los Angeles [Music]
• 15:00 - 15:30 what else are there people who take drugs in your neighborhood my dad smokes besides smoking no way there's not too many of that I'm linol I might drink beer but not that much but I'm never going to try drugs I'm just going to drink a little bit of beer once a year or so why do you think
• 15:30 - 16:00 people take drugs because um they think it's very good or something cuz their life is bad and something like that some people teach them to do it and when they meet the gangs they tell them if you don't try drugs they might kill you and they stick the knife on their neck and they say okay okay I'll do it right Alexis I have a question to ask you please what if someone came over and said hey and
• 16:00 - 16:30 he's like a buy and he says Hey try a drug try a cigarette and then you say no I rather not and then he sticks it in your mouth what do you do do you what I would do is I would spit it out and then run away and then I would say I'm not going to take these and call the police they be wrapping paper up in it and putting cracking drugs in it and then they'll light up with a cigarette lighter and then they
• 16:30 - 17:00 start SM smoking it my mom said that mean they smoking re that ain't good for little kids little kids shouldn't be watching cuz they could do that they self when they don't even know that's why my grandma said my mom to teach us teach us while we young don't teach us while we when we get old Kisha what are the three ways we get our needs buying them making them and growing growing them all right we're going to review again our wants and needs in social
• 17:00 - 17:30 studies all right Kenisha complete the first sentence needs are things what that we must have to live all right class complete the sentence once our things we would like to have we can do without them why is it important to go to school so you can learn uhhuh and you can know what you doing and get your ucation get your a job what are the six needs that we must have to
• 17:30 - 18:00 [Applause] [Music] live very [Music] good my mom and dad said that if you don't go to school and be smart you might end like homeless do you get good grades very good and you have to learn how to talk
• 18:00 - 18:30 right like you you say I'm is a girl or something like that is I am a girl you have to Lear on to right this is a queen this is a queen what's the hardest thing about not speaking English English up in there Joey can you take a phrase to go with the Corner bad boy in a corner okay b b a a
• 18:30 - 19:00 d bad sing is this school different from other schools well they teach in a different method they make it into a game instead of like 2 + 2 is 4 and that you just get that no two ways about it there you are
• 19:00 - 19:30 I'm going to be in some musicals or something my stage name is probably going to be Mike I always like Mike stage name I always like that name ever since I was a little boy I love that name [Applause] is it good to fight no it's good to be
• 19:30 - 20:00 friendly somebody starts a fight with me I just keep fighting and then at the end sorry I shake their hands and say sorry if it was a boy was a girl H we chase her and we and I said whoever um catches her gets to try to kiss her
• 20:00 - 20:30 did you catch her yeah a lots of times but I still haven't done it why because I just can't get to her she's tough to catch huh no not tough to catch she's tough the kiss do any of you have a girlfriend or a boyfriend I used to I used to uhhuh have you ever kissed a
• 20:30 - 21:00 girl Douglas yes once have you ever she kissed me twice did you like it at the time yes do you have a boyfriend Alexis well his name is George and he's I'm a dorm man and George Dorman who's George and and um he's about 20 or 19 years old old and he's in a rock group do you have a
• 21:00 - 21:30 girlfriend no sir do you want to have a girlfriend no sir I want to laugh this not right now though my sister shine about that stuff she she she says she wants to get married with a girl she's crazy she don't like boys cuz you know boys are very you know they have hats they they're cool and you know they be fighting in every time the girls
• 21:30 - 22:00 they're quite good like they be friendly but the boys they fight instead of being friendly like the girls but I'm a little friendly I'm friendly I'm bad I'm good I'm friendly I'm not friendly I'm everything
• 22:00 - 22:30 e e
• 22:30 - 23:00 do you think you'll be married or have a
• 23:00 - 23:30 job or both when you get older think to have a job my dad wants me to be a singer and since I like to ride my mom likes want me to be a riter I think I choose being a doctor
• 23:30 - 24:00 way to go she knows her facts do you want to have children when you get older yes that's the whole point why I want to get married no it isn't Kate you can have babies when you're little younger and you didn't and you don't even if you want to get married you don't even have to have a baby mhm I know but that's the whole point I want to get married so I can have children when I grow up I want to have a little girl can you can you have babies and not be
• 24:00 - 24:30 married yes well you can't have them but you can adopt them I think you can have them when you're because I mean it doesn't matter you you you don't have to get married to have a baby because it's something that everybody has to do or you can have an operation not to have it well you have to you have to be with a boy to have a baby no you don't don't when I get punished I be thinking about like saying that I wish I can't
• 24:30 - 25:00 wait to go big and you know have my wife and my own kids and everything and I'll be I'll be just I'm going to be just like um one of these people in TV no in real life and be just like him when cabbage P babies take their bottles it sounds like they really drinking and then they were what about your real father the father that was with your mother when you Bor house I don't know he moved from the first place
• 25:00 - 25:30 that I know he lived I wanted to go to his house but my mother told me not that I can't go there because since I I'm not I don't have to go there if he doesn't come here so I it how long ago is that how long when I was a little baby when I was five so he doesn't live at home with you anymore anymore they broke
• 25:30 - 26:00 up and I really don't want to have kids when I grow any reasons no do you look forward to Growing Up and being an adult sometimes like sometimes I think it's so hard being kid I might I'm a grown up what's the most important thing in the world to you
• 26:00 - 26:30 my hamster to be with my family be safe good job well it's really like the poor and the the people who die and like the people in the Army who die and well that's really not important to me but it should be
• 26:30 - 27:00 being in Paradise when I don't know when the day comes I want to be in Paradise why do you go door door we want everybody in the truth that we have a presentation and we have magazines like say hello my name is
• 27:00 - 27:30 Joy I knock on the door and then they come to the door and I say hello hello my name is joy and have these magazines that tell you about God's kingdom and how you can live in God's kingdom is there a difference between Jehovah's Witness and other religions yes sir if you believe in other God you won't be able to live in Paradise there's only one God and that's Jehovah do they cost anything no ma'am but you can donate to the preaching word words all right will that be all right
• 27:30 - 28:00 thank you you're welcome have a nice day you have a nice day too thank you you're welcome grud I like reading the Bible a lot and I think that God and Jesus are real people and I also believe in
• 28:00 - 28:30 the in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny what happens to people who don't believe in God uh well God punishes them like some people they just die if they don't believe in God and it really does hurt God's feelings well I don't think they die God doesn't kill them they just get they probably like get punished everybody say God cuz God blessed
• 28:30 - 29:00 America cuz of America they a God that's why I believe in God is it important to believe in God no I think it's important to believe in God because well because God made you that's why think I think it is too for the same reason Lucy does but I never had um a religious
• 29:00 - 29:30 experience weaving between dreams and reality how have these children experienced the world beyond their homes I go to Hawaii every year I go to Ireland a lot I go to Palm Springs I go to New York I'll be buying a cruise boat then I'll be Dro on a boat and being other people and you know and and and ties
• 29:30 - 30:00 shirts coats they'll be you know and dresses good ladies and and they they be dancing and I'll be having a light on the boat a and a pool inside the boat are we traveling around this summer I went to Vienna I usually go to the Caribbean I usually go to Santa Fe and I usually go to hot places desert we're going to
• 30:00 - 30:30 California and what's the place called of the Grand Canyon what you talking about on vacation you ever been to any other cities besides Chicago no ly one big smile one big smile big your hands out that's it one time Goa there [Music] what does money mean to these children
• 30:30 - 31:00 and how do they feel about wealth and poverty I said why don't poor people get a job and my mother said it's hard for them because no one wants poor people yeah and also they ask them where they live and they're kind of embarrassed and stuff like that yeah and they have hardly have enough clothes is it important to have a lot of money no not really well it really is important but instead
• 31:00 - 31:30 of just keeping it by yourself you can lend it to the poor the riches to the poor should the rich give some of their money to the poor yeah not there some a lot when I be rich I'm I'm going to give even I'm going to give money even to the rich people like a poor person could become a rich person if they just work harder and get get smarter the bad thing I think about being being rich is like you get a lot of phone calls and you
• 31:30 - 32:00 have to pay a lot of tax well you have to pay a lot of things CU cuz you might own a lot if I have a lot of money money I could like help a charity or something then need money that's one thing I want to be rich by uhhuh cuz like I could like help homeless people get home and stuff with the money I get yeah we could probably be saing rich person should rich people give their money to poor people no yeah no
• 32:00 - 32:30 they shouldn't sometimes they'll give them a little money so they can least B some food they shouldn't because see they need it for their s and people the the poor people they shouldn't been doing they they supposed to been doing then they would have had been Rich the only reason why I like to be rich is to satisfy my children for good things what would you like a lot of well toys for them because I know how good it feels because I have millions of
• 32:30 - 33:00 toys is it important to be rich no sir would you like to be rich when you grow up yeah but money isn't everything in the world why do you want to be rich when you grow older I want to be rich because then I never run out of money and I also want to be rich cuz that's one of the things in my life that I always like to be I like to be rich I just I have a
• 33:00 - 33:30 feeling Alexis Rich doesn't just mean that you have a lot of money did you know that rich also means very fortunate Rich means you could be poor but you're still a good person hi hi this is Vanessa I need to come I need to talk to you if you were Rich what would you buy I would buy a house I would buy dog a dog house
• 33:30 - 34:00 food now that's important food a Lamborghini great Lamborghini it's the fastest car in the world first the things that I need and then if I have a money a little money left over the things that I want what are the things that you need [Applause]
• 34:00 - 34:30 nothing that I need right now what would you do with all your money if you were Rich uh give it to people give it to a homeless so they could eat and go to the bathroom have you ever seen a homeless person how did that make you feel
• 34:30 - 35:00 awful because I I think I might end like homeless homeless what does homeless mean a person who doesn't have a Home of Their Own no I'm not homeless mom my sister told me about this this boy that's homeless that doesn't have a home and that he he doesn't have a mother father and that he sleeps inside this
• 35:00 - 35:30 [Music] crib go ahead plus yes you are right what here outside school the children don't stop learning but their experiences are vividly different how are they being prepared to manage their Futures what promise are they making to
• 35:30 - 36:00 themselves do you know what you'd like to be when you grow up I might be a librarian like my mother was before she was married I want to be a singer you do mhm I might be a teacher before I get married or I might be I might own a store scientist do you know what kind of scientist any
• 36:00 - 36:30 kind of biography anything I want to be sometime sometimes I want to um be somebody that that works some houses sometimes I want to be a comedian I'm like comedians I've always wanted to be grow up and be funny army man I know what the best thing to make money for a lawyer a lawyer I'm going to be a
• 36:30 - 37:00 lawyer my mom's lawyer she don't got no lawyer when I grow up I want to be a math teacher and a German teacher I'm be a cop fireman a uh what you call uh a a scientist and I want to be a a what you call it that say jokes and everything what you call that guy that he works to say in in other place that it be on stage and people be eating and
• 37:00 - 37:30 I be saying jokes a comedian I'll be a comedian I'm a good comedian I say four things I'm going to be working hard a lawyer or a doctor or a director like you are if I don't want to be a veterian when I grow up cuz I might change it to an but I mostly want to be a veterian that's what I mostly want to
• 37:30 - 38:00 be I want to be a Meen some things after that I'm something and I study about all kind of fish oh and and um one my eye doctor's son he discovered a new kind of shrimp I was watching a TV show and then there was a living the people playing Nintendo like to to get money so I wanted to be there when I grew up Mich God I want to be
• 38:00 - 38:30 there now but I never seen it Poli why do you want to be a policeman and I'm going to be the president that's for sure I'm probably some a surgeon probably a brain surgeon MH and how about you Brandon do you know what you want to be when you grow up well not really because I do have lots of years until that
• 38:30 - 39:00 [Applause] is a generation after the Civil Rights Revolution America is still filled with ethnic and racial separateness what have our children noticed so far about the differences between the races white people are white and black people are black are there any other differences other than that maybe maybe not I don't
• 39:00 - 39:30 know I think I get um the brown color on my skin from the slaves I'm go to my great great grandfather and grandmother was a slave my four grand my my four parents I thought that was pretty stupid making black people slaves and stuff what's there's white people whipped slaves I know I I heard all about that
• 39:30 - 40:00 most black people are better than white people why is that because Michael Jordan he's better than Larry maybe he's like better than like Andre dson is like better than Mark Grace well the reason it black people could like they're bigger so they could like jump higher and they're faster cuz they're like so big like since you're they're stronger if you're big your legs are wrong so if your legs can reach real far you could
• 40:00 - 40:30 go real fast some white people um um is um friendly some black people is friendly some white people is not some black people is not black people my people just the same but usually there's black people that are homeless because they don't they had to come to America cuz they couldn't buy anything or anything like that and black people are sometimes different in the
• 40:30 - 41:00 way they act like black people come from Jamaica and stuff they might say oh I think it's okay to drink and do cigarettes because in our country that's what we do and then white people say but in America and since you're in America you're not supposed to drink and do cigarettes which the black people might think well who asked you I'm from a different country and I believe in my rights they could be from anywhere but
• 41:00 - 41:30 black people get treated really badly even if they're from anywhere like my grandma said that I'm M you're white my grandma said that Vietnamese and Chinese are white I mean I mean yellow and they said that English people are white so we are getting her WR right right do you get along with black people nope my dad told me not to he's scared
• 41:30 - 42:00 of black people Nei am I do you like white people why not I know do white people like you no they don't like black folks sometime they don't but sometimes they do so is there a difference between black people and white people it depends if they're good or
• 42:00 - 42:30 bad how do you tell the difference between a good person and a bad person the W treat after their trip to the zoo we brought the children together for a party are the kids different from each other yeah they're black and white they speak different language they're boys and girls some of them wear pants I mean all of them wear
• 42:30 - 43:00 pants some of them made a big mess and some of them s how are they like you they're eight how old are they all seven on me with Coke noide Boys and Girls are So Different boys are much Wilder and more I think just boy right Lou he's been getting into trouble
• 43:00 - 43:30 a little bit yeah he's really wild and friendly might have told her to put his code on which he didn't do thanks get out of my way did you learn anything new today about kids from around the country no not really because every kid in America is different
• 43:30 - 44:00 [Music] [Music] it would have been good if they was living in your building and so you could
• 44:00 - 44:30 play with them and they think was live on the same porch like those friends out there they made me happy if you had one wish that could come true what would that wish be to everybody to have a good life in the world and um to give money to the poor even if it's not Christmas
• 44:30 - 45:00 mhm and that's all what would your wish be that I could do anything I want what whenever I wanted and never went out of wishes or doing whatever I want what kind of wish is that well that's a good wish well to get married to have kids and and um have a good
• 45:00 - 45:30 life I wish I had more money so I could buy me funish and everything that stuff I need not no toys and nothing be be an adult right away only for one year and all the months is my birthday so I could be an adult right away princess I wanted to be a princess that's what I would
• 45:30 - 46:00 do um to get another sister or brother i' like to be um like Paul Abdul everyone I live happily ever everybody that wish will be the whole world be have money and be you know rich instead of poor right that's my wish that everyone won't be poor and people to help each other instead of
• 46:00 - 46:30 fight and you know that'll be my first wish here they are in all their diversity their small world reflecting ours we'll be returning to them when they're 14 21 and 28 on their Journey from childhood to maturity what will we find in the tension between change and continuity how much will be the same how much will
• 46:30 - 47:00 be different from when they were all age seven in America I'm on your side I'm on your side why did you steal it station I'm on your side why did you steal it from me oh my [Music]
• 47:00 - 47:30 [Applause] over here [Music] inside good night e