Now, easily stepping my foot back in the dating pool (more so with EXTREME hesitance) I have decided to evaluate what type of man is MY ideal man. I have never done this before with complete focus, so now is a good time to. Not only is it important to make a list of necessary characteristics but also a reason why. A lot of time we women say general things like, "I want him to be nice, caring, sweet..." etc. but what does that mean exactly? What would make him nice or caring or sweet? I think many times we don't know what we want so when we get what we think we want and we don't know what to do with it. Therefore a list (with reasonings)may help with this thought process.
1) He has to love kids
This is a given. I have a son and I want more children
2)Have to be a proactive parent
Whoever if marry (if i get married)will have to be a father. A ready-made father at that. I don't want to be the only parent in charge of punishments or praise. He needs to be ready to fulfill a role
3) Willing to adopt at least one child
There are so many un-adopted black children in America and people are willing to travel half-way around to world to get other children. Black boys are the least adopted and many travel through the foster system their whole lives feeling unwanted. And we wonder why our Black men are more likely to end up in prison rather than college.
4) Not have any kids
Yes that sound VERY contradictory since I have a child, but it is more of a preference than a necessity. He won't have to worry about my son's father but most likely his child won't be in his home. The child will most likely be staying with the mother or a relative. I would rather not have to deal with baby-mama drama. But again its a preference.
5)Over 6'2''
This may sound superficial but I'm tall and I have dated guys shorter than me and it makes me uncomfortable. I don't fell feminine. People say I have to just suck it up because I'm tall and the average man is shorter than me, but all of that is relative. Whether you are 5'6 woman or a 6'6 woman at the end of the day if he is shorter than you he is SHORT to YOU. It just feels weird to me and I don't like it.
6) Can make a significant financial contribution to the houseold
I got in a conversation with a group of guys about this and they made me out to be a golddigger. I don't see how that can be. Statistics show that as a black woman wating a relationship with a black man, I will most likely have the most education, the best job and make the most money. I'm ok with making the most money, but don't want to support him. And I don't mean support in a "good job honey, i'm here to support you" kind of way. I mean I don't want to support in a "honey I just paid the rent/morgage, electric bill, car note, insurance, phone bill, and cable. Could you please...maybe put some gas in the car...possibly...please." I'm not having it. MOST of the woman in my family are supporting their men. And when I say most I mean like I can think of 2 yes TWO women who don't provide the main support. My mother, grandmother, aunts, uncle's girlfriends/wives/fiances, all are the finaicial backbone for the household. When my mother was hurt on the job and had to recover there was little help from her husband. Lights were turned off, bills weren't paid and my mother couldn't recover completely with assurance. She had to go back to work early in order for everything to go back to normal. I don't want that. I want more kids and my past pregnancy wasn't the greatest. I most likely won't be able to work full-time for a while and I want my husband to be able to help the family. That isn't too much to ask.
7) Regardless of how much money he makes I want him to have a understanding of money and be fiscally responsible
He has to have an understanding of what his worth is in assets and trying to raise his worth. If he knows what disposible income is and what net worth is, he won't be out here trying to buy expensive car and clothes. He wouldn't spend his pay check on new rims, candy paint or a wood-grained dashboard. I need him to know his credit score, know what an IRA is and a 401K. And if he doesn't know, that's cool I don't know everything, but I need him to already have a willingness to learn more about it with me.
8)Has to be masculine
Now this is one of those ambigous traits we women tend to say. I like traditional things. He opens doors, let me order first, has an understanding of the workings of a car. He has to have a presence.I want to feel protected and safe around him. I want him to have good conflict resolution skills (rarely gets into fights) and able to stand up for me whenever necessary. He has to exuded confidence...its just intangible. He doesn't have to say much. I don't have to see his car, or know what he does for a living. He doesn't need to try to make me jealous and try to impress me with his major/degrees/acomplishments (be humble!). He just is. Just is. When he initially approaches me he isn't nervous. He knows what he wants to say and does what he wants to do with strength and security. For example, a few friends and I went out to get something to eat. My friend told us that one of her male friends was in town and invited him to join us. We all order, eat, and the check comes. In mid-conversation, he takes the check, puts he card in the check holder and kept talking. Now, we were all expecting to pay but he said the dinner was on him and didn't ask us for our numbers or anything in return. Him paying wasn't the masculine part, just the way he asserted himself with such smoothness was fantastic.
9) Fears God
Not in a "I go to church on Easter and pray when I want something" kind of Christian but a man after God's heart. We all stumble along the way but at the end of the day he has to make God a priority. I want him to show our children how to pray and the importance of God.
10) Be a role model
I determine this by asking myself, "would I want my son to be just like him." After addressing all of his good and bad traits I should be willing to say "yes"
11)Interested in his community
Our community, the Black community, won't get any better if we do't do anything about it. Especially our children. I would like for him to have a serious interest in bettering his community
12) Able to show emotions
I want him to be able to tell me how he feels. Be able to show happiness, sadness, anger, frustration, in the most intimate of moments with the understanding that I am there for him ready to support and listen to whatever he has to say. Now, I don't want him to be a water bag crying all over the place nor do I want him to be SO masculine that he feels he need to act a certain way around me. I want him to be comfortable around me and be able to express to me what I need to do in order to make that comfortable atmosphere for him.
13) Love his job
If you are unhappy with something you have to do everyday that is going to end up spilling over into the home. If he doesn't "love" his job, he should to have a plan that gets him out of that job and into something he loves.
14) Has hobbies/other activites
I think it is important to have something that allows you to escape from everyday life. Whether it be, fixing cars, fishing, gardening, shooting pool,or being an ACTIVE member of an organization. Whatever it is that doesn't have to include me or the family can help in maintaining his identity and allow for him to just get away. He just needs to make sure family and God are priorities over this hobby.
15) Has friends
I have seen what happens when the woman has friends and an outgoing personailty and the guy seems to weigh her down. I have also seen it vice-versa. The woman has made her man her life and doesn't know what to do without him. I want to know his friends and meet his friends, as he would do the same with me, but I want him to have his "guys night out" and be able to have fun with his friends.
16) Makes me laugh
Pretty straight forward. I'm sarcastic and like to clown, he has to be funny too.
17) Doesn't abuse any drugs
Doesn't smoke ANYTHING or shoot up ANYTHING. Drinking socially is cool but he can't be a habitual drunk.
18) Interested in an over all healthy lifestyle
Eating right, exercising etc. I have started my health lifestly after I had my son and have lost 20 pounds and plan to keep going for the rest of my life. I want us both to live long and healthy lives for our children, grandchildren and their children
19) Intersted in travel and other cultures
I want to travel more and I would love to live and learn with my mate
20)Eager to better himself
He should be able to ask "why" to his emotions and actions as well those of the world. But not just for the sake of asking but as a productive measure or means to an end. He should see life as an endless journey. I would love for both of us to take that journey and discover more of ourselves and each other
This is all I can think of for now, but this just might sum it all up. Now as I look for these thing in future "daters" I also find it important to discover what makes me or what could make me a great mate. Another thing us women do is point alot of is fingers at others without pointing them at ourselves. That list will come soon :-)
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
My View of the Boondocks
The Chronicles of Crum
I am currently taking a animation history course. As an assignment we had to choose an iconic character to write about. I choose my hero..Huey Freeman :-)
For those reading this essay who have yet to see the show, it may appear as if The Boondocks is a serious depiction of Black life with a political agenda announced on the proverbial soap box constructed with a psychological and socio-economical edge used to inform its viewers of the cons of living in America as a Black person as opposed to a late-night cartoon simply created to entertain pubescent insomniacs via caustic banter. Well, it may contain all of those elements, but what seems to make it a little more palatable for the average American is the comedy used throughout the series. Aaron McGruder, the creator of the animation featured on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim based on his award-winning comic strip by the same name, is an admitted satirist who uses the irony of characters’ environment against their personalities, sarcasm referencing current events, pokes fun at American media and entertainment culture, and covertly and overtly ridicules intra-racism, socio-economical indifference, and the lack of historical knowledge and current awareness in today’s youth.
“Excuse me everyone I have a brief announcement to make. Jesus was Black, Ronald Regan was the devil and the government is lying about 9/11. Thank you for your time and good night.” This scene from “The Garden Party” is emblematic of Huey Freeman’s frequent public declarations informing the masses of the latest political scheme or societal affliction. He is the 10-year-old star of The Boondocks and is the driving force in exposing and denouncing a culture he sees as ruled by a White supremacist power structure that misrepresents Christmas and Christ Himself ("A Huey Freeman Christmas", "The Passion of the Ruckus"), enforces capitalism and condones child labor (“The Itis”, "The Block is Hot"), falsely criminalizes Black males ("A Date With The Health Inspector"), and brings to light an unlawful leniency afforded to the wealthy and law enforcement ("Let's Nab Oprah", "A Date With The Health Inspector").
Huey Freeman is an intelligent skilled martial artist who lives among an array of personalities. Within his home there is his eight-year-old opportunistic brother Riley and their single culturally-assimilated Granddad, Robert Jebediah Freeman, who all live in the majority Caucasian suburbs. He has befriended and at times is annoyed by his mixed-race naive neighbor, Jasmine Dubois, of his same age, who doesn’t quite understand Huey’s purpose nor is approving of his angry demeanor (“The Block is Hot”). Tom Dubois, whose multi-racial marriage is occasionally under scrutiny (“The Trial of R. Kelly”), is the assistant district attorney, the father of Jasmine and only other Black person known to live in Woodcrest. Uncle Ruckus is an anti-black ornery middle-aged black man who is constantly in Woodcrest. But the blue collar jobs he performs throughout the series - such as working as a Wuncler estate security guard in “The Garden Party” or a hospital janitor in “Gangstalicious” - suggests he isn’t fiscally capable of maintaining a residence in the upper class neighborhood. Ed Wuncler is a right-winged conservative businessman who appears to represent the small percentage of Americans that own 84% of the nation’s wealth (Domhoff 2006). His family owns the local bank and acquired many other properties since his family founded Woodcrest over 100 years ago (“The Garden Party”). Neither a Mrs. Wuncler nor other children are ever shown, though he has a grandson, Ed Wuncler III (or Ed), who is suppose to uphold the Wuncler name by being the next U.S. President (“The Garden Party”). But Ed is more of an unsophisticated elitist and less of a savvy entrepreneur. Ed is an Iraqi war veteran who robs his father’s bank and convenient stores for fun without repercussions, treats his arsenal as a toy box, and is easily amused when he sends smiley-faced text messages to females.
He is usually seen with a large “W” chain around his neck to symbolize “Wuncler” and the middle initial of our current U.S. President (The Boondocks special features). His friends include 8-year-old Riley Freeman and Gin Rummy another Iraqi war veteran. Rummy appears to be more intelligent than Ed but just as impulsive and psychotic.
Huey’s characteristics and actions parallel some historical figures and events which create some interesting interactions and ironies. He is possibly tailored after a mixture of historical Black activists: Marcus M. Garvey, Huey P. Newton, and Malcolm X.
Garvey was the founder of the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in 1917 - an organization created to promote unity, love, pride among and protection for the Black race regardless of nationality - which established more than 700 branches in 38 U.S. states and 200 branches in the West Indies and Central and South America (Watson 2000). A year later Garvey produced the Negro World, a weekly newspaper that reached a circulation of more that 50,000 (Watson 2000).
Born Malcolm Little in 1925, Malcolm X was raised on the teachings of Marcus Garvey and converted to the Nation of Islam, who maintained Garvey’s beliefs, taught strict moral purity and the superiority of the black race. Malcolm X conducted an assiduous accusative campaign against America's racial hypocrisy then altered his ethnic principles. Maintaining the belief the racism is embedded in the cultural fabric of America; Malcolm rejected his former racial generalities, advocated humanity, and agreed that some whites wanted to unravel America’s racist mentality (Jones). As Malcolm X had predicted in his autobiography, he would be immortalized after his death, thus profoundly influencing the development various organizations including the Black Panther Party (Jones).
Huey P. Newton, born 1942, was a student activist at Merritt Junior College in the early 1960s then he and Bobby Seale co-founded the Black Panther Party (Huey P. Newton). Newton was at the forefront of this African-American progressive political organization that fought for social justice, demanded equal education, struggled for better housing and employment for poor Blacks, and armed themselves in order defend themselves against police brutality in the 1960’s (Dunlap 2006).
Huey Freeman is the founder of twenty-three radical leftist organizations that are very similar in nature to that of those who he succeeds. He lists his affiliations in the episode entitled "The Real" where the family is being interviewed for a reality show of which Riley applied: “Africans fighting racism and oppression or AFRO…Black revolutionary organization or BRO…Black revolutionary underground heroes or BRUH.” These organizations make reference to the chapters established by the UNIA, Black Panthers, and the Nation of Islam. In the “The Block is Hot” Huey sits on a soap box placed on the street curb passing out newspapers and enlightening passers of esoteric information including how the government wants citizens dead by 62 so they can’t collect their social security benefits. This action is reminiscent of Garvey’s newspaper distribution and Malcolm X’s declarations made in New York street meetings.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s persona could possibly be included in Huey’s characteristics because of Huey’s protest march to free Jasmine from the effects of her naïve decision of involving herself in a corrupt business deal – a protest very similar to the “Free Huey” campaign that commenced after Newton was sent to prison in 1967 for murder after a fatal confrontation with Oakland police officer (Huey P. Newton). Or because of Huey’s admiration for King seen in an episode dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr. (“Return of the King”). Garvey, Newton nor Malcolm may not be known for massive marches with a means to a political end, but Huey’s “by any means necessary” attitude makes him appears more militant that the soft-spoken congenial King who could be seen as the polar opposite of the Black Panthers. Their influcened was noted when former FBI chief, J. Edgar Hoover, deemed the Black Panthers "the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States" (What Was the Black Panther Party?).
What’s ironic is that Huey attends J. Edgar Hoover Elementary (“A Huey Freeman Christmas”), named after a man who would be advocating Huey’s destruction. J. Edgar Hoover, one of the most powerful racists to hold a U.S. government position in the 20th Century and director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1924 to 1972 was notorious for his targeting Black civil rights leaders, elected officials, newspaper publishers, and artists. He was involved with the FBI program entitled ``Operation Fruehmenschen'' (German for ``primitive'' or ``early man'') which allowed for routine investigation without probable cause of prominent elected and appointed black officials throughout the United States with the belief that they were intellectually and socially incompetent (Spannaus 2000). This FBI program eventually became COINTELPRO (counter-intelligence program) which aided Hoover's infamous campaign to ``neutralize'' Dr. Martin Luther King, Marcus Garvey and the Black Panther Party. Examples of the enforcement of COINTELPRO consisted of FBI wiretapping telephones, use their media contacts to discredit targets, blackmail, and stimulate violence and assassinations. In 1968, the FBI Headquarters included ``Black Nationalist--Hate Groups,'' within their targets. Their use of “imaginative'' techniques resulted in the assassination of Dr. King, Garvey’s escape to England and the dissolution of the Black Panthers (Spannaus 2000).
Knowledgeable of governmental conspiracies, Huey decided to rectify past government wrongs. Huey is a friend and fan of Shabazz K. Milton Berle and conjures a plan to free him from execution (“The Passion of Ruckus”). Huey informs the audience that Shabazz was an intern for the Black Panthers in the early 1970’s. While in his office, a deputy was shot outside. Soon after, the police barged into his office building brutalizing him and placing him under arrest for murder. It was discovered that Eli Gorbinski did the shooting after compiling the mountain of evidence against him: An on-site stenographer’s transcription signed and dated by Gorbinski, a video tape of the shooting, Gorbinski’s finger prints, receipt of sale, and a signed warranty card still attached to the weapon. The jury deliberated for twenty-minutes and sentenced Shabazz to death.
The use of the name Shabazz implies a couple of things. During his dedication to the Nation of Islam, Malcom X and other Black Muslim were taught that they were descendants of the "original black nation of Asia, the Tribe of Shabazz," and that they had lost their original culture in slavery (Turner 1997). According to these ideas, the slave masters were the descendants of blonde haired blue-eyed mutant devils who had been developed by a mad black scientist named Yacub. These mutant devils are believed to be the cause of the loss of their "true" names, history, religion and ethnicity, thus finding it necessary to destroy the white race's invincibility that made black inferiority and self-hatred inevitable (Turner 1997). Also after Malcolm denounced his allegiance to the Nation of Islam, he changed his name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. This episode doesn’t inform the audience of Shabazz Berle’s religious affiliation or his stance on the Caucasian race, but since Shabazz is used as a first name and not a last name may discount his religious affiliation. Huey’s belief system isn’t expressly stated either, but the possibility that Shabazz is a member of the Nation of Islam, the fact that Huey and he are friends, Huey’s reference to Elijah Muhammad and his teachings is the episode “The Itis”, added to Huey’s admiration of Malcolm X expressed by the large poster on his bedroom wall suggests that he is, at the very least, familiar with Black Muslim religion.
Shabazz’s fictitious story is very similar to the accusations toward former Black Panther member Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin found guilty of murdering a Fulton County sheriff's deputy and wounding another in March 2000 (Ex-Black Panther convicted of murder 2002). Al-Amin was confronted by two Fulton County deputies attempting to serve a warrant because of Al-Amin's failure to appear in court. Then the event escaladed into a shooting battle which ended with a dead officer, an injured deputy, and a wounded attacker. Although Al-Amin was fingered as the attacker but wasn’t injured he was still arraigned and held responsible. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Al-Amin and plan to present evidence that is believed to be tampered with. Al-Amin's lawyers argued their client’s innocence and, as with Shabazz, another man was known for committing the murder. Nevertheless his fate was sealed due to the surviving officer identifying Al-Amin as the assailant and an alleged governmental conspiracy believed by his brother Ed Brown. Brown says the government’s fixation on his brother stems from an established pattern that has lasted over three decades beginning with his civil rights efforts and now his Muslim belief system, "What explanation do they have for watching him? …They were so obsessed." This government obsession was rendered in “The Real” where COINTELPRO actions were represented by a secret government agent monitoring Huey, possibly due to his affiliations with radical Black organizations.
The similarity in each activist and embodied in Huey is their separatist philosophy. Huey could be labeled a Black Nationalist; A person with the set of beliefs or political theories that want African-Americans to maintain social, economic, and political institutions separate and distinct from those of whites in order to ward off the possibility of assimilation, an action that can deny the minority of their culture due to a merger with the majority culture (The Black Nationalist Forums). This separatist mentality could prevent any negative incidents resulting from white racism and allows for the maintenance of pro-Black ideals. Black Nationalist thought is a form of cultural nationalism defined as a group having the sense that they represent a "nation" or a unified "nation that is within a nation" (Shockley 2004). Nationalists believe that their particular group should behave in ways that indicate the following: (1) group solidarity and group betterment, and (2) an unspoken acknowledgement among group members that they are in competition with other groups (Shockley 2004). As the nation diversifies, incoming groups are quickly realizing that they can benefit from group nationalism. These nations fight for resources and power by lobbying Congress, building institutions in their communities, and by teaching their children how to compete with other groups for resources and power (Shockley 2004). Like Garvey's followers in the 1920s, Black Muslims labeled whites as "blue-eyed devils," opposed integration, and called for black pride, independent black institutions, and, ultimately, a separate black nation (Jones).
Huey’s opposition towards fraternizing with the Wuncler’s and their White guests suggests that Huey could be a follower of Garvey. In “The Garden Party”, Wuncler invites the Freeman’s to a gathering at his home. Granddad happily accepts the invitation claiming that Woodcrest is where the “new White man” lives, but Huey isn’t convinced, “Granddad I don’t sip tea with the enemy. You can force me to go but you can not force me to be someone I’m not”. Huey doesn’t clearly state at anytime during the season what group of people are the enemy or what alternate personality he believes he is expected of him. Is the enemy White people, the rich, rich white people or capitalists? One could argue that most of the wealthy in America are Whites thus the average capitalist is of the same race. But is Huey’s anger against White people across the board? He doesn’t seem to have a problem with his teacher in “A Huey Freeman Christman” episode. He does state his dislike for Gin Rummy and Ed more so for their immaturity than their color. Huey does converse with an Caucasian attendee at the Wuncler festivity but his demeanor supports him feeling forced rather than willing as he tells the gentlemen that he couldn’t see Passion of the Christ due to Jesus being played by a White actor.
McGruder and his creative staff have used their skills to innovatively over-throw artistic norms and character dimensions. The show is ground-breaking in that it is drawn in a detailed Japanese anime design featuring Black characters. With the limiting style of anime, Lesean Thomas the character supervisor of the animated series, said that it was challenging to create but enjoyed the authenticity of the characters, “This is the first time I have been able to design characters that look like Black folks. You don’t get shows like this ever” (The Boondocks special features). The art is ambitious in that all of the characters - stars, co-stars, and extras - are all unique in their design. Similar to Winsor McCay, McGruder was able to successfully maintain the original look of his comic book characters after translating them into animation.
For example, Huey continues to look like a caricature of McGruder and maintains his contemplative disposition. Similar to the short-lived The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest cartoons where the characters remained in the same clothing, McGruder and his artistic team departed from traditional animation in that the star characters’ clothing changes throughout the episode and series. Another similarity to John Quest is the use of Doug Wildey’s signature comic book artistic style known for his bold use of shadow and realistic people. The innovations continue with Huey addressing the audience. Huey as the narrator understands that he has a responsibility to inform those in his world and the viewing audience. He is the only character who consistently breaks the fourth dimensional wall by communicating with the audience, similar to Bill Cosby in the Fat Albert cartoon series. Although they are two different types of programming the purpose behind conversing with the viewing audience is similar in that they both want to clearly identify and effectively communicate a point to the audience.
The Boondocks writing staff is able to bring various malignant issues festering within the Black community and the American society as a whole to the fore-front with the help of the trials, tribulations and knowledge of Huey: The effects of the news on society (e.g. When her dad didn’t come home from work, Huey had to support Jasmine when she feared Algerian terrorist had captured her father to decapitate him due to the threat level being raised to orange); intra-racism (e.g. When Huey was ridiculed for moving from the inner city to an upper-class neighborhood); criminalization of Black males (e.g. when Tom was accused of being the X-box killer because he fit the vague “black male” description and Huey had to find the real murderer). But there appears to be a constant race theme consisting of two different threads throughout Huey’s adventures: Blacks in relation to Blacks and Blacks in relation to Whites. One of Huey’s most interesting exposition uncovers the cankerous intra-racial debate on the use of the derogatory term “nigga”. The history of the word nigger has a lexical history of mispronunciations due to it being passed through five different dialects: First is the Latin word niger, meaning black; Second, it became negro in Spanish and Portuguese with the same Latin definition; Later, it became the noun Negro meaning black person in English; In Early Modern French niger became negre and, transformed into negress meaning Black woman; Then finally nigger, believed to be the phonetic spelling of the white Southern mispronunciation of Negro (Middleton and Pilgrim 2001). By the advent of minstrelsy in the 1800s, nigger was known as a degenerative nickname and a sign of white racism. Interestingly, the word nigger carries a similar amount hatred and disgust as disparaging terms targeting other ethnicities like kike, spic, wetback chink, and dago but it can be heard today being used by African-Americans… Herein lays the debate. Some say the word still carries the stench of its negative history and displays Blacks’ internalization of negativity about themselves, while others argue that Blacks coined and redefined its variants (e.g. niggah, nigga, or niggaz) thus not allowing themselves to be prisoners of the past or suffer from the words created to insult the very people who use it (Middleton and Pilgrim 2001). Others characters use the terms for different reasons. Uncle Ruckus uses the terms solely to degrade other Black people and appears to be symbolizing some Blacks’ internalized self-hatred. Gin Rummy says it’s a general term for ignorant people. Granddad boasts about his participation in the civil rights movement, or lack thereof, and appears to be divided on its use by enforcing its restricted use and then saying it himself. Riley, appears to be of a different train of thought saying “nigga” to whom ever he deems worthy, black or white. But Huey utilizes it as a racial class ranking similar to the way some whites create a socio-economical subdivision with expressions like rednecks, honkeys, white trash, etc. In “Granddad’s Fight”, Huey explains to the audience the definition of a “nigga moment”. An action Huey says occurs when a disrespectful situation presents itself and the otherwise logical Black male responds in an illogical, unpredictable and self-destructive manner that is ranked third in the top reasons for death among Blacks after F.E.M.A. and pork chops. We learn that there is a difference between private “nigga moments” which shames the individuals involved and public “nigga moments” shames the entire race. Granddad accidentally killed the man who helped create the ignorant public moment between the two of them, thus regaining the respect he believed was taken from him. Huey attempted to talk his grandfather out of involving himself in the immature situation without victory.
So how can Huey be victorious in delivering his message? A stereotypical satirist’s job description could include delivering an adult message by cynical means and therefore characterized as pessimistic, but if the satirist rips open old wound so that they may be reexamined should he (McGruder) be labeled as militant or angry? What is interesting is that Huey may be speaking the truth but his overt tactics to inform the Black public is unsuccessful. Why is this? Does this mean that the majority of Black people live comfortably in a blissful ignorance? Huey once said, “My vision would turn your world up side down tear sunder your allusions and send the sanctuary of your own ignorance crashing down around you. Now ask yourself are you really ready to see that vision?”
Huey battles both Black and White ignorance in hopes that the revolution will begin and the white supremacist power structure would be debunked. During an edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, conservative host Bill O'Reilly claimed that The New York Times and "many far-left thinkers believe the white power structure that controls America is bad, so a drastic change is needed…” (May 16). He said on national television “the white power structure that controls America”. This confirmation that a racist structure exists makes McGruder’s lead character more iconic. Whether you agree with Black Nationalist thought or not, if a group of people are being subjugated shouldn’t someone say something? Shouldn’t someone fight against mis-education, stand up and tell the truth? Didn’t Jesus speak up for the poor and Moses for the enslaved Hebrews? Aren’t Americans taught to admire Paul Revere? Just as the American Revolution began due to the sting of British rule, Huey is calling for a Black revolution fueled by Afrocentric thought. Contrarily, Huey doesn’t advocate a gun battle but a battle of minds and the discussion of history and its relevance in today’s society. Poet and musician Gil Scott Heron told us that “the revolution will not be televised”, ironically McGruder’s revolution is.
I am currently taking a animation history course. As an assignment we had to choose an iconic character to write about. I choose my hero..Huey Freeman :-)
For those reading this essay who have yet to see the show, it may appear as if The Boondocks is a serious depiction of Black life with a political agenda announced on the proverbial soap box constructed with a psychological and socio-economical edge used to inform its viewers of the cons of living in America as a Black person as opposed to a late-night cartoon simply created to entertain pubescent insomniacs via caustic banter. Well, it may contain all of those elements, but what seems to make it a little more palatable for the average American is the comedy used throughout the series. Aaron McGruder, the creator of the animation featured on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim based on his award-winning comic strip by the same name, is an admitted satirist who uses the irony of characters’ environment against their personalities, sarcasm referencing current events, pokes fun at American media and entertainment culture, and covertly and overtly ridicules intra-racism, socio-economical indifference, and the lack of historical knowledge and current awareness in today’s youth.
“Excuse me everyone I have a brief announcement to make. Jesus was Black, Ronald Regan was the devil and the government is lying about 9/11. Thank you for your time and good night.” This scene from “The Garden Party” is emblematic of Huey Freeman’s frequent public declarations informing the masses of the latest political scheme or societal affliction. He is the 10-year-old star of The Boondocks and is the driving force in exposing and denouncing a culture he sees as ruled by a White supremacist power structure that misrepresents Christmas and Christ Himself ("A Huey Freeman Christmas", "The Passion of the Ruckus"), enforces capitalism and condones child labor (“The Itis”, "The Block is Hot"), falsely criminalizes Black males ("A Date With The Health Inspector"), and brings to light an unlawful leniency afforded to the wealthy and law enforcement ("Let's Nab Oprah", "A Date With The Health Inspector").
Huey Freeman is an intelligent skilled martial artist who lives among an array of personalities. Within his home there is his eight-year-old opportunistic brother Riley and their single culturally-assimilated Granddad, Robert Jebediah Freeman, who all live in the majority Caucasian suburbs. He has befriended and at times is annoyed by his mixed-race naive neighbor, Jasmine Dubois, of his same age, who doesn’t quite understand Huey’s purpose nor is approving of his angry demeanor (“The Block is Hot”). Tom Dubois, whose multi-racial marriage is occasionally under scrutiny (“The Trial of R. Kelly”), is the assistant district attorney, the father of Jasmine and only other Black person known to live in Woodcrest. Uncle Ruckus is an anti-black ornery middle-aged black man who is constantly in Woodcrest. But the blue collar jobs he performs throughout the series - such as working as a Wuncler estate security guard in “The Garden Party” or a hospital janitor in “Gangstalicious” - suggests he isn’t fiscally capable of maintaining a residence in the upper class neighborhood. Ed Wuncler is a right-winged conservative businessman who appears to represent the small percentage of Americans that own 84% of the nation’s wealth (Domhoff 2006). His family owns the local bank and acquired many other properties since his family founded Woodcrest over 100 years ago (“The Garden Party”). Neither a Mrs. Wuncler nor other children are ever shown, though he has a grandson, Ed Wuncler III (or Ed), who is suppose to uphold the Wuncler name by being the next U.S. President (“The Garden Party”). But Ed is more of an unsophisticated elitist and less of a savvy entrepreneur. Ed is an Iraqi war veteran who robs his father’s bank and convenient stores for fun without repercussions, treats his arsenal as a toy box, and is easily amused when he sends smiley-faced text messages to females.
He is usually seen with a large “W” chain around his neck to symbolize “Wuncler” and the middle initial of our current U.S. President (The Boondocks special features). His friends include 8-year-old Riley Freeman and Gin Rummy another Iraqi war veteran. Rummy appears to be more intelligent than Ed but just as impulsive and psychotic.
Huey’s characteristics and actions parallel some historical figures and events which create some interesting interactions and ironies. He is possibly tailored after a mixture of historical Black activists: Marcus M. Garvey, Huey P. Newton, and Malcolm X.
Garvey was the founder of the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in 1917 - an organization created to promote unity, love, pride among and protection for the Black race regardless of nationality - which established more than 700 branches in 38 U.S. states and 200 branches in the West Indies and Central and South America (Watson 2000). A year later Garvey produced the Negro World, a weekly newspaper that reached a circulation of more that 50,000 (Watson 2000).
Born Malcolm Little in 1925, Malcolm X was raised on the teachings of Marcus Garvey and converted to the Nation of Islam, who maintained Garvey’s beliefs, taught strict moral purity and the superiority of the black race. Malcolm X conducted an assiduous accusative campaign against America's racial hypocrisy then altered his ethnic principles. Maintaining the belief the racism is embedded in the cultural fabric of America; Malcolm rejected his former racial generalities, advocated humanity, and agreed that some whites wanted to unravel America’s racist mentality (Jones). As Malcolm X had predicted in his autobiography, he would be immortalized after his death, thus profoundly influencing the development various organizations including the Black Panther Party (Jones).
Huey P. Newton, born 1942, was a student activist at Merritt Junior College in the early 1960s then he and Bobby Seale co-founded the Black Panther Party (Huey P. Newton). Newton was at the forefront of this African-American progressive political organization that fought for social justice, demanded equal education, struggled for better housing and employment for poor Blacks, and armed themselves in order defend themselves against police brutality in the 1960’s (Dunlap 2006).
Huey Freeman is the founder of twenty-three radical leftist organizations that are very similar in nature to that of those who he succeeds. He lists his affiliations in the episode entitled "The Real" where the family is being interviewed for a reality show of which Riley applied: “Africans fighting racism and oppression or AFRO…Black revolutionary organization or BRO…Black revolutionary underground heroes or BRUH.” These organizations make reference to the chapters established by the UNIA, Black Panthers, and the Nation of Islam. In the “The Block is Hot” Huey sits on a soap box placed on the street curb passing out newspapers and enlightening passers of esoteric information including how the government wants citizens dead by 62 so they can’t collect their social security benefits. This action is reminiscent of Garvey’s newspaper distribution and Malcolm X’s declarations made in New York street meetings.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s persona could possibly be included in Huey’s characteristics because of Huey’s protest march to free Jasmine from the effects of her naïve decision of involving herself in a corrupt business deal – a protest very similar to the “Free Huey” campaign that commenced after Newton was sent to prison in 1967 for murder after a fatal confrontation with Oakland police officer (Huey P. Newton). Or because of Huey’s admiration for King seen in an episode dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr. (“Return of the King”). Garvey, Newton nor Malcolm may not be known for massive marches with a means to a political end, but Huey’s “by any means necessary” attitude makes him appears more militant that the soft-spoken congenial King who could be seen as the polar opposite of the Black Panthers. Their influcened was noted when former FBI chief, J. Edgar Hoover, deemed the Black Panthers "the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States" (What Was the Black Panther Party?).
What’s ironic is that Huey attends J. Edgar Hoover Elementary (“A Huey Freeman Christmas”), named after a man who would be advocating Huey’s destruction. J. Edgar Hoover, one of the most powerful racists to hold a U.S. government position in the 20th Century and director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1924 to 1972 was notorious for his targeting Black civil rights leaders, elected officials, newspaper publishers, and artists. He was involved with the FBI program entitled ``Operation Fruehmenschen'' (German for ``primitive'' or ``early man'') which allowed for routine investigation without probable cause of prominent elected and appointed black officials throughout the United States with the belief that they were intellectually and socially incompetent (Spannaus 2000). This FBI program eventually became COINTELPRO (counter-intelligence program) which aided Hoover's infamous campaign to ``neutralize'' Dr. Martin Luther King, Marcus Garvey and the Black Panther Party. Examples of the enforcement of COINTELPRO consisted of FBI wiretapping telephones, use their media contacts to discredit targets, blackmail, and stimulate violence and assassinations. In 1968, the FBI Headquarters included ``Black Nationalist--Hate Groups,'' within their targets. Their use of “imaginative'' techniques resulted in the assassination of Dr. King, Garvey’s escape to England and the dissolution of the Black Panthers (Spannaus 2000).
Knowledgeable of governmental conspiracies, Huey decided to rectify past government wrongs. Huey is a friend and fan of Shabazz K. Milton Berle and conjures a plan to free him from execution (“The Passion of Ruckus”). Huey informs the audience that Shabazz was an intern for the Black Panthers in the early 1970’s. While in his office, a deputy was shot outside. Soon after, the police barged into his office building brutalizing him and placing him under arrest for murder. It was discovered that Eli Gorbinski did the shooting after compiling the mountain of evidence against him: An on-site stenographer’s transcription signed and dated by Gorbinski, a video tape of the shooting, Gorbinski’s finger prints, receipt of sale, and a signed warranty card still attached to the weapon. The jury deliberated for twenty-minutes and sentenced Shabazz to death.
The use of the name Shabazz implies a couple of things. During his dedication to the Nation of Islam, Malcom X and other Black Muslim were taught that they were descendants of the "original black nation of Asia, the Tribe of Shabazz," and that they had lost their original culture in slavery (Turner 1997). According to these ideas, the slave masters were the descendants of blonde haired blue-eyed mutant devils who had been developed by a mad black scientist named Yacub. These mutant devils are believed to be the cause of the loss of their "true" names, history, religion and ethnicity, thus finding it necessary to destroy the white race's invincibility that made black inferiority and self-hatred inevitable (Turner 1997). Also after Malcolm denounced his allegiance to the Nation of Islam, he changed his name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. This episode doesn’t inform the audience of Shabazz Berle’s religious affiliation or his stance on the Caucasian race, but since Shabazz is used as a first name and not a last name may discount his religious affiliation. Huey’s belief system isn’t expressly stated either, but the possibility that Shabazz is a member of the Nation of Islam, the fact that Huey and he are friends, Huey’s reference to Elijah Muhammad and his teachings is the episode “The Itis”, added to Huey’s admiration of Malcolm X expressed by the large poster on his bedroom wall suggests that he is, at the very least, familiar with Black Muslim religion.
Shabazz’s fictitious story is very similar to the accusations toward former Black Panther member Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin found guilty of murdering a Fulton County sheriff's deputy and wounding another in March 2000 (Ex-Black Panther convicted of murder 2002). Al-Amin was confronted by two Fulton County deputies attempting to serve a warrant because of Al-Amin's failure to appear in court. Then the event escaladed into a shooting battle which ended with a dead officer, an injured deputy, and a wounded attacker. Although Al-Amin was fingered as the attacker but wasn’t injured he was still arraigned and held responsible. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Al-Amin and plan to present evidence that is believed to be tampered with. Al-Amin's lawyers argued their client’s innocence and, as with Shabazz, another man was known for committing the murder. Nevertheless his fate was sealed due to the surviving officer identifying Al-Amin as the assailant and an alleged governmental conspiracy believed by his brother Ed Brown. Brown says the government’s fixation on his brother stems from an established pattern that has lasted over three decades beginning with his civil rights efforts and now his Muslim belief system, "What explanation do they have for watching him? …They were so obsessed." This government obsession was rendered in “The Real” where COINTELPRO actions were represented by a secret government agent monitoring Huey, possibly due to his affiliations with radical Black organizations.
The similarity in each activist and embodied in Huey is their separatist philosophy. Huey could be labeled a Black Nationalist; A person with the set of beliefs or political theories that want African-Americans to maintain social, economic, and political institutions separate and distinct from those of whites in order to ward off the possibility of assimilation, an action that can deny the minority of their culture due to a merger with the majority culture (The Black Nationalist Forums). This separatist mentality could prevent any negative incidents resulting from white racism and allows for the maintenance of pro-Black ideals. Black Nationalist thought is a form of cultural nationalism defined as a group having the sense that they represent a "nation" or a unified "nation that is within a nation" (Shockley 2004). Nationalists believe that their particular group should behave in ways that indicate the following: (1) group solidarity and group betterment, and (2) an unspoken acknowledgement among group members that they are in competition with other groups (Shockley 2004). As the nation diversifies, incoming groups are quickly realizing that they can benefit from group nationalism. These nations fight for resources and power by lobbying Congress, building institutions in their communities, and by teaching their children how to compete with other groups for resources and power (Shockley 2004). Like Garvey's followers in the 1920s, Black Muslims labeled whites as "blue-eyed devils," opposed integration, and called for black pride, independent black institutions, and, ultimately, a separate black nation (Jones).
Huey’s opposition towards fraternizing with the Wuncler’s and their White guests suggests that Huey could be a follower of Garvey. In “The Garden Party”, Wuncler invites the Freeman’s to a gathering at his home. Granddad happily accepts the invitation claiming that Woodcrest is where the “new White man” lives, but Huey isn’t convinced, “Granddad I don’t sip tea with the enemy. You can force me to go but you can not force me to be someone I’m not”. Huey doesn’t clearly state at anytime during the season what group of people are the enemy or what alternate personality he believes he is expected of him. Is the enemy White people, the rich, rich white people or capitalists? One could argue that most of the wealthy in America are Whites thus the average capitalist is of the same race. But is Huey’s anger against White people across the board? He doesn’t seem to have a problem with his teacher in “A Huey Freeman Christman” episode. He does state his dislike for Gin Rummy and Ed more so for their immaturity than their color. Huey does converse with an Caucasian attendee at the Wuncler festivity but his demeanor supports him feeling forced rather than willing as he tells the gentlemen that he couldn’t see Passion of the Christ due to Jesus being played by a White actor.
McGruder and his creative staff have used their skills to innovatively over-throw artistic norms and character dimensions. The show is ground-breaking in that it is drawn in a detailed Japanese anime design featuring Black characters. With the limiting style of anime, Lesean Thomas the character supervisor of the animated series, said that it was challenging to create but enjoyed the authenticity of the characters, “This is the first time I have been able to design characters that look like Black folks. You don’t get shows like this ever” (The Boondocks special features). The art is ambitious in that all of the characters - stars, co-stars, and extras - are all unique in their design. Similar to Winsor McCay, McGruder was able to successfully maintain the original look of his comic book characters after translating them into animation.
For example, Huey continues to look like a caricature of McGruder and maintains his contemplative disposition. Similar to the short-lived The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest cartoons where the characters remained in the same clothing, McGruder and his artistic team departed from traditional animation in that the star characters’ clothing changes throughout the episode and series. Another similarity to John Quest is the use of Doug Wildey’s signature comic book artistic style known for his bold use of shadow and realistic people. The innovations continue with Huey addressing the audience. Huey as the narrator understands that he has a responsibility to inform those in his world and the viewing audience. He is the only character who consistently breaks the fourth dimensional wall by communicating with the audience, similar to Bill Cosby in the Fat Albert cartoon series. Although they are two different types of programming the purpose behind conversing with the viewing audience is similar in that they both want to clearly identify and effectively communicate a point to the audience.
The Boondocks writing staff is able to bring various malignant issues festering within the Black community and the American society as a whole to the fore-front with the help of the trials, tribulations and knowledge of Huey: The effects of the news on society (e.g. When her dad didn’t come home from work, Huey had to support Jasmine when she feared Algerian terrorist had captured her father to decapitate him due to the threat level being raised to orange); intra-racism (e.g. When Huey was ridiculed for moving from the inner city to an upper-class neighborhood); criminalization of Black males (e.g. when Tom was accused of being the X-box killer because he fit the vague “black male” description and Huey had to find the real murderer). But there appears to be a constant race theme consisting of two different threads throughout Huey’s adventures: Blacks in relation to Blacks and Blacks in relation to Whites. One of Huey’s most interesting exposition uncovers the cankerous intra-racial debate on the use of the derogatory term “nigga”. The history of the word nigger has a lexical history of mispronunciations due to it being passed through five different dialects: First is the Latin word niger, meaning black; Second, it became negro in Spanish and Portuguese with the same Latin definition; Later, it became the noun Negro meaning black person in English; In Early Modern French niger became negre and, transformed into negress meaning Black woman; Then finally nigger, believed to be the phonetic spelling of the white Southern mispronunciation of Negro (Middleton and Pilgrim 2001). By the advent of minstrelsy in the 1800s, nigger was known as a degenerative nickname and a sign of white racism. Interestingly, the word nigger carries a similar amount hatred and disgust as disparaging terms targeting other ethnicities like kike, spic, wetback chink, and dago but it can be heard today being used by African-Americans… Herein lays the debate. Some say the word still carries the stench of its negative history and displays Blacks’ internalization of negativity about themselves, while others argue that Blacks coined and redefined its variants (e.g. niggah, nigga, or niggaz) thus not allowing themselves to be prisoners of the past or suffer from the words created to insult the very people who use it (Middleton and Pilgrim 2001). Others characters use the terms for different reasons. Uncle Ruckus uses the terms solely to degrade other Black people and appears to be symbolizing some Blacks’ internalized self-hatred. Gin Rummy says it’s a general term for ignorant people. Granddad boasts about his participation in the civil rights movement, or lack thereof, and appears to be divided on its use by enforcing its restricted use and then saying it himself. Riley, appears to be of a different train of thought saying “nigga” to whom ever he deems worthy, black or white. But Huey utilizes it as a racial class ranking similar to the way some whites create a socio-economical subdivision with expressions like rednecks, honkeys, white trash, etc. In “Granddad’s Fight”, Huey explains to the audience the definition of a “nigga moment”. An action Huey says occurs when a disrespectful situation presents itself and the otherwise logical Black male responds in an illogical, unpredictable and self-destructive manner that is ranked third in the top reasons for death among Blacks after F.E.M.A. and pork chops. We learn that there is a difference between private “nigga moments” which shames the individuals involved and public “nigga moments” shames the entire race. Granddad accidentally killed the man who helped create the ignorant public moment between the two of them, thus regaining the respect he believed was taken from him. Huey attempted to talk his grandfather out of involving himself in the immature situation without victory.
So how can Huey be victorious in delivering his message? A stereotypical satirist’s job description could include delivering an adult message by cynical means and therefore characterized as pessimistic, but if the satirist rips open old wound so that they may be reexamined should he (McGruder) be labeled as militant or angry? What is interesting is that Huey may be speaking the truth but his overt tactics to inform the Black public is unsuccessful. Why is this? Does this mean that the majority of Black people live comfortably in a blissful ignorance? Huey once said, “My vision would turn your world up side down tear sunder your allusions and send the sanctuary of your own ignorance crashing down around you. Now ask yourself are you really ready to see that vision?”
Huey battles both Black and White ignorance in hopes that the revolution will begin and the white supremacist power structure would be debunked. During an edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, conservative host Bill O'Reilly claimed that The New York Times and "many far-left thinkers believe the white power structure that controls America is bad, so a drastic change is needed…” (May 16). He said on national television “the white power structure that controls America”. This confirmation that a racist structure exists makes McGruder’s lead character more iconic. Whether you agree with Black Nationalist thought or not, if a group of people are being subjugated shouldn’t someone say something? Shouldn’t someone fight against mis-education, stand up and tell the truth? Didn’t Jesus speak up for the poor and Moses for the enslaved Hebrews? Aren’t Americans taught to admire Paul Revere? Just as the American Revolution began due to the sting of British rule, Huey is calling for a Black revolution fueled by Afrocentric thought. Contrarily, Huey doesn’t advocate a gun battle but a battle of minds and the discussion of history and its relevance in today’s society. Poet and musician Gil Scott Heron told us that “the revolution will not be televised”, ironically McGruder’s revolution is.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
