Unless you are the parent of a baby or toddler, you almost certainly never have heard of Ms. Rachel.
The only exception would be if you are the grandparent of a baby or a toddler. Then, on a visit to your grandchild, you would be likely to see a YouTube video of Ms. Rachel, with your little buddy mesmerized by her show.
That’s how I learned about her a couple of years ago. I was really impressed at how she kept the attention of my oldest grandson Henry, even though he couldn’t have been a year old yet. But he was positively transfixed.
I’m not the expert in explaining how Ms. Rachel does it. She always wears a pink shirt with overalls and a pink headband. She has a soft, sing-song, happy voice, and every time she teaches her viewers a word, color or movement, she celebrates with a long, joyful “Yayyyyyy.” And there’s lots of music and singing.
Whatever she’s doing, she is connecting with young children, and their parents are most grateful. A profile last week of Rachel Griffin Accurso in The Washington Post said her YouTube show has 16 million subscribers. That is one big following.
But Ms. Rachel has been getting other attention lately.
“On Instagram and her other adult-focused social media channels, Accurso has been increasingly outspoken in her advocacy for the children experiencing trauma and starvation in Gaza,” the Post reported.
In one post she wrote, “Children deserving access to water, food, education and medical care is not controversial.” But when it involves the Middle East, of course it is controversial.
Some supporters of Israel have criticized her. Fox News commentators could not resist mocking her. One pro-Israel group says the government should investigate whether Ms. Rachel is a foreign agent being paid to advocate for the Hamas terrorist group.
OK, deep breath, everybody. Ms Rachel has also criticized anti-semitism and mourned the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas. It seems obvious that she isn’t siding against Israel. Besides, is she wrong? Does anyone think children do not deserve access to food, education and medical care?
I don’t buy the allegations that what is happening in Gaza is genocide — the intentional effort to eradicate an entire group of people. That said, anybody who watches the news has seen recent film of skeletal children in Gaza who are starving.
National Review editor Rich Lowry has a good column on this page about Gaza. He believes Hamas, which has run the territory for years, would rather see its people starve and die than give up its power. He also wrote that Hamas was using food shipments to make money to continue its war against Israel.
That’s why Israel cut off the food supply, but the global criticism is growing. Even President Trump said he was aware of the problem and was not happy about it.
I think Ms. Rachel is right to advocate for the health and safety of all kids, and I think the children’s television legend she idolizes, Mister Rogers, would approve of what she’s saying.
The Post story noted a couple of times when Fred Rogers, who in real life was an ordained Presbyterian minister, made a subtle point without saying anything directly.
In 1969, for example, he put his feet into a wading pool, and then invited Officer Clemmons, who was Black, to join him. This was at a time when many white people were objecting to the integration of public swimming pools.
Sometime soon, Ms. Rachel will have a guest on her show: a 3-year-old Gaza refugee who lost both her legs in an air attack last year.
Somebody will complain about it, but they are missing the point. Without saying it, Ms. Rachel will ask why a little girl must suffer so. Amen.
Meanwhile, my second grandson Tommy, who turned a year old in May, also is a big Ms. Rachel fan. His favorite song is “Hop Little Bunnies.”
So leave Ms. Rachel alone. She is doing a world of good. Only fools would object to that.
