Cobb: Boondocks' Empty Revolution

January 16, 2006

Boondocks' Empty Revolution

Aaron has gone to the well and too the wall, and considering what I just read from Bomani, it seems as if he's gone as far as he can go.

But after watching him channel Dr. Martin Luther King for the purpose of calling folks a bunch of niggaz, I have to reconsider that and seriously reconsider the cartoon. Between this and the "nigga moment" premise--one that delineated the difference between black folks and niggaz, something I absolutely refuse to stand for--I might be done with Aaron's cartoon.

The premise of this week's Boondocks was that King lived and came out of a coma in 2000. After becoming a pariah by invoking a turn the other cheek attitude post-9/11, King finds himself lonely, confused and out of touch. So much so that Huey Freeman has to talk him into starting a black revolutionary party. The only people who show up to the inaugural are niggas and bitches who got tickets from urban contemporary radio station 'The Freak' KFRK. King calls them out and basically takes the Cosby rant up an order of magnitude. Then he moves to Canada. After which black America realizes it is actually trifling for not enjoining the Revolution; they stay in highschool now, revolt and blockade the White House. In 2020 Oprah is elected President.

As funny as this can be, you really can't call McGruder a political sophisticate of any depth. We already knew that. What we didn't quite realize over here in the Old School was how long McGruder must have suffered in the ghetto, because he's not seeing black people at all in his cartoon. He's only seeing niggas and bitches - the Fourty Percent, the loud minority. As a creative font, that's showing signs of desparation. The only one of these knuckleheads he has given any backstory to is the pop-eyed character who wanted to shoot King himself, but believed that the white man has better aim. The rest are anonymous, ignorant crowds. In other words, there are no niggas to love for any reason. McGruder's King isn't the only one who has been in a coma for 40 years.

It's really too bad that there's nobody in The Boondocks who is a young adult. It must be frustrating for young adults to watch. It must be frustrating to be the young adult McGruder is when any such portrayal is lacking in his artistic vehicle.

How I miss Kyle Baker.

Posted by mbowen at January 16, 2006 08:40 AM

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Comments

I think you missed it.

Posted by: DarkStar at January 16, 2006 04:41 PM

I dissagree with Cobb's assessment. I think perhaps it stings him to be excluded by Mcgruder.

Mcgruder is implying that Cobb's "60%" is not as essential to real revolution as his status would have him believe.

There are many things one could assume about Mcgruder and the purpose of writing this particular skit. Him being myopic isn't one of them.

Posted by: T at January 16, 2006 04:52 PM

I don't feel like that the 60% need to be portrayed by McGruder, but I am noting how ridiculous his political prospects for America are considering that he doesn't account for them.

Posted by: Cobb at January 16, 2006 04:57 PM

I don't feel like that the 60% need to be portrayed by McGruder, but I am noting how ridiculous his political prospects for America are considering that he doesn't account for them.

Posted by: Cobb at January 16, 2006 05:11 PM

Cobb, I would never accuse you of this oversight, but that 60% is never mentioned when someone wants to cast Black folks in a bad light.

As for Mcgruder not being inclusive, note, Shanique, nor De-Von was elected to the White House. Oprah was!

Posted by: T at January 16, 2006 05:30 PM

I read the comic strip. I've seen most of the shows. What you seem to miss is, Boondocks is a comic that highlights the insanity of aspects of the "hip hop" subculture.

The show seems to be a more intense version of the strip.

Next, McGruder grew up in the Washington 'burbs. And I don't think he's missing a thing. Man, think of Mudbone. What did Pryor miss with that?

Posted by: DarkStar at January 16, 2006 08:44 PM

Well, part of the thing I'm saying is that for a political vision of revolution, even a satirical one, this episode left me thinking, damn that's lightweight.

From my perspective, since I don't do Boohab any longer, there's something I expect McGruder to do. He's not doing it well. But it's not for me to say, I guess.

Posted by: Cobb at January 17, 2006 08:17 AM

Why do you miss Kyle Baker? He's still alive and still working. Have you read his latest, on Nat Turner? http://www.kylebaker.com/www/turnerbaker/turner.htm

Posted by: Stu Mark at January 19, 2006 09:15 AM