The Boodocks, Stereotypical or Reality?

Have you all seen The Boondocks, a new cartoon that airs Sunday's @ 11pm on The Cartoon Network's Adult Swim? If not, you are missing something and it's worth watching at least one episode. Click here to view a clip of the cartoon. For those that haven't seen it, a quick synopsis of the plot is that two young Black brothers (10 & 8) move to a boondock suburb of Chicago (hence the name of the show) when their grandfather gets custody of them. Prior to moving to the boondocks, the boys lived on the South Side of Chicago. The younger brother Riley is a self proclaimed 8 year old gangsta' who has a foul mouth and bad temper to match. On the other hand is Huey, Riley's 10 year old brother who is a socially conscious intellectual revolutionary who is all for the advancement of Black people.

So here's my take on the show. I have only seen two of the episodes, so my thoughts are based on these two shows. Last night, though I was needing to get ready for bed, I found myself captivated by this show and at the same time thinking that I don't know if I should support it, because of some of it's content. Most of my problem with the show lies with the younger brother, Riley, who uses the "N" word frequently, has a violent disposition that seems to be a bit excessive, especially for an 8 year old. On last night's show, Riley was pissed with Santa Claus for not bringing him presents when he was living in the hood last year, so he decided to terrorize Santa Claus this year when he ran into him at the mall. Not only did he verbally harass Santa, but he physically attacked him, by beating him with a golf club during one incident and then came back another day for more revenge. The second time he terrorized Santa, he had a gun with a red beam on it which he aimed at Santa's head and attempted to shoot him. I can't recall, but I think it was a bebe gun he had. Now keep in mind, this is an 8 year old! Although it's a cartoon, that's a bit much, even for me as an adult to watch, especially when I know the reality of 8 year olds in real life bringing guns to school and children accidentally shooting their peers because they gained unauthorized access to a gun.

A stark contrast to this was the social consciousness of his older brother Huey, who wrote a school play about the true meaning of Christmas where he wasn't afraid to challenge the myth that Jesus had blonde hair and blue eyes and pale skin as is depicted by most Christian's. The things he was saying were really on point and I found myself wishing that most young Black 10 year olds were like that in real life. Wishing they could use their brains to create change instead of ignorance and violence. I loved how he spewed out facts on how Christmas used to be a pagan holiday and how he exposed some of the inconsistencies of commonly held truths.

This is where my conflict with the show comes in. I really have a hard time with the liberal use of the "N"word and the excessive violence displayed by the younger brother. In the first episode of the show I saw, I'm not kidding when I tell you that between the little brother and the grandfather, they used the "N" word more than 20 times in a 30 minutes episode! But, on the other hand I like how the older brother directs his anger at a racist society via intellectual opposition. It's easier to use violence as a means to get people to do what you want, but another thing entirely to use your brain as that weapon that creates change. The latter is what we need to teach our young people to do.

I know, I'm digging way too deep into a cartoon, but I think we have to be careful about how we represent ourselves in all forms of media. Our young Black boys are too violent as it is and we don't need shows to reinforce these negative aspects to the extreme that Boondocks does. None the less, I think I'll tune in next week to see what happens. Overall the show is decent and I have always found the humor of John Witherspoon, (who plays the grandfather) to be funny. I will never forget his roles on Friday and Boomerang.

What do others think of this show?