Monday, November 07, 2005

The Boondocks

Aaron McGruder has a daily comic strip called The Boondocks, focused on a black family dealing with everyday life in America. However, it's not exactly the same everyday America as in Dennis the Menace or Peanuts or Cathy. The two boys, especially, give voice to many of the undercurrents of thought in the black community that white audiences are unaccustomed to hearing — much less to having shouted in their faces.

Last night, the Cartoon Network premiered the animated tv series The Boondocks. The first episode opens with one of the boys dreaming about stepping up to a microphone at an all-white garden party to make three simple announcements:
  1. Jesus was black.
  2. Ronald Reagan was the devil.
  3. The government is lying about 9/11.
The grandfather wakes the boy from his dream to say, "You'd better not even dream about tellin' white folks the truth!"

How much is truth I'll leave to you to decide, but The Boondocks is certainly telling white folks Aaron McGruder's perspective, with a little help from a cast including my old friend Ed Asner. [whom I met once 24 years ago]