Comical Tragedy, Isn’t It Funny? (Not Really); The Problems Presented On The Boondocks That Is Blocking Progress In the Black Community
As Black History Month was approaching, we think about the strong and brave leaders that have moved the black community to a better position in society. The black community has moved forward resiliently, but let’s not regress. Watching The Boondocks has made me think about the regression happening and the hurdles that still need to be worked with to mobilize again. The Boondocks places critiques while grabbing an audience that would normally opt out of the conversation of race. The use of comedy is inviting. People prefer to laugh over difficult topics than to listen to intellectuals sit around a table talk about the issues.
Both The Boondocks and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are known for the excessive use of the word “nigger.” The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a historical text and its meaning was erased when the word “nigger” was removed from a version of the book. In this new version of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the word “nigger” was replaced with the word “slave.” It was changed because Alan Gribben, a professor of English at Auburn University did not like that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was “falling off reading lists” because the word “nigger” was in it. He thinks that the n-word “never seems to lose its vitriol”, so he thinks avoiding the conversation altogether would be more beneficial in a classroom. I think the reason why the book falls off reading lists because some parents and teachers are too lazy or uncomfortable to go into the difficult conversation of how the United States was extremely racist and what the word meant.
Getting rid of the word “nigger” in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn causes several problems. It destroys the historical context of the novel. The word ‘slave’ doesn’t make sense with the story since a “slave” during the mid 19th century was actually a freedman. Getting rid of the n-word just softens the United States’ extreme prejudice at the time. Replacing the word “nigger” with “slave” does not convey the impact and the baggage that the n-word carries. The word “slave” can refer to anyone around the world who was enslaved, but “nigger” denotes the slavery that took place right here, in the United States. The word “nigger” represents the time period of the degradation and dehumanization of a people.
The definition of the n-word is a major block in continuing to move forward. The fact that a classic book like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn had to be edited to make people feel more comfortable shows that the battle over the word is not over.
The word “nigger” wasn’t always used toward black people. Wikipedia has provided me with some eye-opening insight about the history of the word “nigger”. One of the biggest shocks for me was that it was actually the politically correct term for black people for a long time. The word at certain points was not always used for black people; the word was used for anyone who is oppressed. Pierre Vallières in his book White Niggers of America: The Precious Autobiography of a Quebec “Terrorist”, describes the oppression of the Québécois by the French. He refers to the Québécois as “white niggers”. He wanted to redefine the word to refer to social class and power instead of skin color. If the word “nigger” did not refer to someone’s fixed character trait like skin color and if the location didn’t have a heavy and nasty history surrounding skin color, then it would probably be used less. If it referred to economic status it would mostly likely be less acceptable to use. Calling a person a ‘charity case’ is a word used less than any variation of the n-word, and there is a consensus that the word is a “bad word.” Throughout history words have been ‘reclaimed’ by the group oppressed by the word.
The Boondocks shows the different uses of the word “nigger” with its characters, Uncle Ruckus and Riley, which both have different definitions of what the word means for them. Uncle Ruckus uses the word to intentionally degrade. Uncle Ruckus has noticed “darkies are getting used to the word nigger, so we gotta recycle some of the other words, like porch monkey, and jungle bunny”. He is a character on the show that represents racism and internalized racism. Riley is one of the people Uncle Ruckus refers to in the quote when referring to people who have gotten used to the word. On the other hand, Riley uses the variation “nigga” in almost every single sentence. He represents the naïve and misled youth. In society, the lack of consensus gives power to the individuals to decide what intention they want to have with the n-word.
There has been times when using a variation of the n-word was deemed inappropriate and blew up on the news and the Internet. Paul Dawson form Louisville, Kentucky is a teacher from who crossed the line, the distinction between what uses of the word is offensive and what uses of the word is not offensive. He couldn’t see the distinction very clearly. The real life situation is of Paul Dawson, who called one of his students, Keysean, “nigga” and was labeled on television as a racist even though he obviously had no idea what he did wrong. In the episode The S Word, the story was adapted and filled with comedy. The student called “nigga” on the cartoon was Riley. The irony of it all is if you knew who Riley is, it seems really comical that he would call out a teacher for calling him “nigga”. Riley does say it constantly. Riley reminds me of two black teenage boys on the train to school saying the word “nigga” in every sentence. The student in real life explains that he never used the word in the classroom and that he would never use it. You can tell Keysean was definitely lying when he stutters and says, “no one else in the class knows that I said it… because I didn’t.”
Aaron McGruder, the creator of the Boondocks comic strip and producer of the cartoon, makes his opinion very clear when he decides to place Riley in the place of Keysean. Riley in the cartoon tells reporters that he “felt like less than nothing” and that he was deeply offended. It’s even funny to think about it because Riley has a very nonchalant personality and is a typical troublemaker on the show. By placing Riley in the position of the student, McGruder is exposing the hypocrisy some in the black community have. Regarding the word “nigger”, it was not completely reclaimed by the black community. The problem becomes that the word becomes too group exclusive, so no one is able to talk about it without being labeled a racist or offensive.
Because of the group exclusivity, the topic of the word is not held for long nor does it reach a sound conclusion, which probably does more harm and damage than benefit. Many youth find it acceptable to call their fellow male black peers “nigga” in an endearing manner. But when someone outside of the black community uses it, it becomes ‘racist’. If you don’t want to be called a certain name, then don’t call yourself that or allow for people to call you that.
From my experiences, the more educated population seems to understand why the word “nigger” or any variation of it shouldn’t be used. In the show, Tom and Huey, the lawyer and the revolutionary radical, never use the word. I have never heard any of my black teachers call anyone “nigga” nor have I seen someone like Oprah call someone a “nigga”. It seems those who were fortunate enough to explore black history know the weight the word has.
BET is corrosive for the black youth of America. BET, Black Entertainment Television, plays mostly hip-hop and rap songs that are geared towards youth. Ironically, the Boondocks used to be aired on Black Entertainment Television, but was promptly taken off after very harsh criticism from The Boondocks. A way to sum up what McGruder thinks of BET is that BET is geared towards “niggas [that] have nothing better to watch”. I can see why a black person might turn to BET; BET is one of the only ‘black channel’ for entertainment. The other entertainment channels like MTV are geared towards white America, although BET and MTV are under the same company. It is also very rare to see black people in good light on MTV. BET is cancerous for the black community, but BET is the only ‘black channel’. After reading an article on Parents Television Council, BET: Bad Entertainment for Teens, I was simply appalled at how horrible the channel is. According to the article, BET shows depictions of “sex, strippers, murders, explosions, rioting, and use of weapons, drug sale or use” on average every 38 seconds on BET. “By comparison, prime-time broadcast TV programming in the 8:00 p.m. hour (itself full of sex and violence) averaged one instance of negative content only about every five minutes.” It cannot get more horrible than that. It does seem as if BET wants blacks to go back into a ditch. On BET there is also an aura of stereotypes radiating, which doesn’t help the black community move forward. You would also expect that if you are going to be representing yourself that you would want to represent yourself in the best way possible. One of the many assumptions that BET makes is that all black people are interested in hip-hop, rap, and R&B music. I think because of BET, music that is trash is becoming mainstream because producers think that is what people want.
On The Boondocks, a BET employee points out that the drop-out rates, teen pregnancy rates, and unemployment rates have risen since BET was put on air. Nowadays it does seem, all television geared towards teens is causing the rates to increase. Look at MTV, they have directly caused teen pregnancy rates to increase. Many young girls in America are getting pregnant to appear on the show Teen Mom. BET has most likely infected the young minds of black youth to think that the only way to achieve affluence is to become an athlete or an entertainer. McGruder, in an interview, points out the sad truth that it’s difficult to find a black leader that “won’t embarrass you” and it’s also difficult to find black leaders in general. Another example of how BET doesn’t help educate black youth is that they didn’t air Coretta Scott King’s funeral. She was the wife of a very important leader in the African-American civil rights movement. Did the channel think it it’s not important? This is just another sign of hypocrisy and a sign of great disrespect. Ignoring and not televising the funeral of a pivotal leader in the black civil rights movement is a reason why so many don’t see a problem with using the word “nigga”; the history isn’t being taught on channels with larger audiences. Coretta King lived in an era where that word was so weighted in hate and it was a reminder of where they were in the social hierarchy. Her generation had to endure so much just so that BET can be aired. The bold step of BET calling it’s self the ‘black channel’ is problematic. It is putting forth that it somehow represents a group of people. It would be fine if there was a variety on the show of different aspects of the black community, but it doesn’t.
In one of McGruder’s comic strips it shows what problems BET causes for someone who isn’t black. In the comic strip a young, white girl who has never met a black person in her life assumes that all black people are “gangster rappers or basketball players”. As of 2009, about 65% of the NFL is comprised of black athletes and about 82% of the NBA is black. But in politics, in the 112th Congress, there are zero senators and 41 out of 435 are black in the House of Representatives.
America was misled themselves about who Barack Obama was. Barack Obama won many votes simply because of his race and the extreme hope people had for someone who was a little bit more liberal leaning and a darker shade. People sincerely believed something big was going to happen. Aaron McGruder seems to agree that the general population mislead themselves to believe there was going to be a dramatic and radical change in the White House after Obama reaches the oval office. In an interview on The Boondocks, many characters were interviewed about the election, including Granddad, Thugnificant, Huey, Sarah DuBois, Riley, and Uncle Ruckus. Most of the characters are completely enamored by the idea of a “black”, young man entering the oval office. Although Martin Luther King Jr. wanted us to look at people for their “content of character”, but it seemed evident that people were “judg[ing] by the color of [his] skin” instead. Actually, within the black community, people who think like Huey Freeman were considered racist for not voting for Obama. Some of the pressure of the election was ‘vote Obama or be known as a racist’. Furthermore, Granddad represents a large population who believed Barack Obama was going to do things differently than what George Bush was doing for 8 years. People were so hopeful that he would turn things around, ridiculous rumors were beginning to spread that people won’t have to, “worry about putting gas in [their] car, or worry about paying [their] mortgage”. Lists of other rumors surrounding his inauguration are: the White House will become the Black House; he is actually an undercover gangster, and the hope that he would end the war in Iraq as soon as he was elected. People most likely felt such a strong connection and obligation to vote for Barack Obama because of his race, although they might not have known much about Obama’s policies and views on issues.
Although the “I’m Black And I’m Proud” movement James Brown was beginning to take momentum in the late 1960’s, the racism imposed on the black community was internalized deeply by blacks. The character Uncle Ruckus in The Boondocks is a personification of this self-hatred. He hates himself for being black, he even creates this entire story in his head that he was actually born from 2 white people, but some disease caused him to be black. He is also very convinced that he is white and doesn’t want any associations with black people. Uncle Ruckus always finds some way to praise white people for some sort of accomplishment, even if it isn’t there. The self-hatred of the black community is evident in its standards of beauty, the color of the eyes, the hue of the skin, and including the texture of the hair.
In a video that exposes the horrible treatments and surgery black people go through to look ‘whiter’, it makes one realize how deeply rooted the hate is. The sad thing is, most of them just do not realize that by making those changes to become ‘more beautiful’ they hate themselves. One woman realizes the horrible mistake she did by wanting to change her eye color. She went to Panama to get the surgery done. She goes on to explain all the medical problems she has for having that surgery. Another account is of women in Jamaica bleaching their skins to become slightly lighter. The bleaching product they are using isn’t actually for bleaching their skin; it was for removing scars or making them less noticeable. People discovered they could use it for bleaching when the skin in the area became lighter. Most African-American women get perms and relaxers for their hair. There are things to think about when thinking about possible reasons to perm and relax. Disney characters and the media in general are to blame for not putting enough emphasis on the beauty of the Afro or frizzy hair. Shampoo ads promise to give ‘your hair a natural look’, that is shiny, and ‘healthy’. At the end of these shampoo commercials the women walk off with their hair bouncing, blowing in the wind, or have the women giving the camera a long and exaggerated hair flip. In Garnier commercials, the women are mostly white, but when there is one black woman, her hair looks exactly like every else’s in the commercial. The hair products aim for that type of hair that just flows, no wonder so many women with different hair types feel inadequate. The clerk of the store in the video makes a comment that the straight hair “looks more natural”. What disturbs me the most is the fact those surgeries to change eye color even exists and that products to bleach skin even exists.
The Boondocks is rarely seen as a show that takes some effort to understand. Most do not look past the comedy or really listen to what is being said by the characters on the show to reach the message Aaron McGruder wanted to show. When I bring up The Boondocks with people, their immediate reaction is, “It’s funny”, but very rarely does a person say, “I loved the episode about the cycle of oppression/corporate interest/gays in hip-hip/etc”. The show is a bit of a contradiction, it’s comedy but, as Martin Luther King said in a Boondocks episode, “you have nothing to celebrate about”. The topics raised in The Boondocks are no laughing matter and laughter shouldn’t be evoked.
March 4, 2011
stevenscga
The Boondocks, More Than a Cartoon 