Black Comic Book Creator - Aaron McGruder

I have been very impressed by the work of Aaron McGruder. There is much information about him, but I could not find a home page for him. He is the creator of the Boondocks. It is a nationally syndicated comic strip and an animated comedy series airing om the Cartoon Network. Instead of commenting on the property itself I want to concentrate on talking about what it says about racism and religion. Just about every character in the series represents a stereotype expanded to outlandish conditions, but I think its unfair to just write off what McGruder and his fellow artists are saying. There really are black people who identify so much with white people that they hate other black people. There really are black people who are so into the gangsta hip hop culture that they do not see how evil and corrupt and anti-Christ it is. There really people who have not thought out the implications and foreign policies since World War II that we are paying for now. What is troubling to me about Boondocks, especially the television series, is the "gratuitous" use of the "N-word". I hate that word no matter who says it or how often. My wife is often fond of pointing out the inconsistency of hating the word and not wanting people to use the word around me but liking to watch the show on television. I'd say that McGruder is correct in his defense that this is the way black people today interact with each other. I think the show should show us how silly and self-destructive we are. to use that word It is supposed to satirical...not only of White America but also Black America. I don't really know if that is what the show's writers have in mind, but that is what I see. I think that maybe they do. In season 1 of the show there was a very very controversial episode that imagined that instead of dying 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. fell into a comma and woke up in 2000. One of the plot points was that in the wake the September 11, 2001 attack, King, in the story asked for non-violence and was vilified and marginalized by the media and society. In 2005, King, with the help of Huey ( main character of the series), tries to continue his work only to find out that his ideas have become anachronistic. He has become a cliche to sell merchandise. At the end of the story when a group of black people refuse to listen to him because they are more interested in partying, King goes off angrily decrying all the evils of black America. You know...the things we can't blame white people for. It was poignant and very very funny. It drew fire from Al Sharpton because MLK used the "N-word" a lot. It did not bother me because everything that was said was the truth and the people who listening in the story were behaving that way. Maybe if our leaders really said those things to our young people they would wake up and cause a lasting revolution like the one depicted at the end of that episode. Like Huey I can dream can't I?

I see nothing in any character other than Huey to inspire or want my children to emulate. I don't agree with all of Huey's ideas. I agree with his views on History and Racism. And I think he embodies the cynicism of my generation extremely well. However if he had a theology it would be the ideas of James Cone which I cannot support. The only hope we have to be free of the bonds of racism and economic oppression is to be freed from our sins. Only Jesus can do that.

I'm sadden that the comic strip has been canceled but much of the series has been collected into trade paperbacks. I plan to get some of them and I also plan to get season 2 of the series on DVD (which is out). Here is one of my favorite episodes: "Return of the King."

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.

Return to Main page.

View blog reactions