Column: "Al Sharpton is Wrong About 'The Boondocks,' Naturally"
It applies to liberals generally, but for the purposes of this column we’ll call it the Sharpton Standard: Any one person, position or product’s worth should be measured in direct proportion to Al Sharpton’s opposition to it; in other words, the louder Sharpton’s voice against something, the greater the odds that thing is worthwhile. Today that thing is “Return of the King,” the controversial ninth episode in The Boondocks cartoon series, based on the syndicated comic strip, which airs Sunday nights at 11pm Eastern, during Cartoon Network’s “Adult Swim” block.
In total, Sharpton is objecting to “nigger,” a word sprinkled rather liberally throughout the series, but in this case made to come from the lips of an animated Martin Luther King, Jr., pulled from death in a script written by Aaron McGruder, the comic strip’s creator and original artist. “Cartoon Network must apologize and also commit to pulling episodes that desecrate black histories figures,” Sharpton said. “We are totally offended by the continuous use of the n-word in McGruder’s show.”
Doubtful Sharpton has seen or heard anything other than those excerpts offensive to him; also doubtful Sharpton sought them out himself, as opposed to some minion barging into his office with a piece of tape he “had to see.” Which is too bad, because when viewed completely, it’s hard to believe Sharpton would have this much of a problem.
We begin with this fact: Every summary of “Return of the King” you’ve read (other than the one I’m about to give you) is wrong. Not because reporters are trying to deceive you, but because they haven’t actually seen the episode and are therefore forced to rely upon faulty wire reports and other reporters’ flawed summations. “Return of the King” it set upon an interesting premise: King didn’t die on that horrible day in Memphis, he fell into a coma from which he didn’t awaken until October 2000.
Not long after waking King signs book and movie deals; the biopic is released one week after 9/11 and suffers greatly because of apathetic audiences, while in October 2001 he appears on Politically Incorrect and is asked how he believes America should respond to the Tragedies, given his belief in non-violence. “As a Christian, we are taught that you should love thy enemy, and if attacked, turn the other cheek.” King becomes a social pariah. His book is crushed, and in December 2001 CNN names him one of this country’s 10 most unpatriotic Americans.
Cartoon King befriends 10-year-old Huey Freeman and his grandfather Robert at a book signing no one else attends; eventually Huey convinces King to start the first black political party, whose defining moment is scheduled to come at an “emergency action planning committee meeting.” Realizing he has no experience with modern media, King employs an “urban promotions firm” to get the word out. The firm promptly fills the meeting with what we will politely call undesirables.
Thrust into a culture he simply cannot fathom, King watches his meeting descend into an out-of-control party, complete with crooked doormen, spurious speakers, loud music, dancing and fistfights. Finally, King can’t take anymore and assumes the podium, where he ascends into the tirade Al Sharpton finds so disturbing. It begins, “Is this it? This is what I got all those ass whoopins for?”
The scene is cut as to suggest King carries on for quite some time, covering a wide variety of topics before basically admitting defeat and announcing he’s moving to Canada. The speech is played all over television the next day – suddenly blacks are unified in a common desire to shake off “normal” and aspire to greater things. In a critical voiceover at the end of the episode Huey says, “It’s fun to dream.”
Unfortunately, McGruder writes an Oprah Winfrey presidency and a riot outside the White House into the dream (ironic, given King’s inclination toward non-violence), but his point is clear to anyone watching the show with open eyes: Aaron McGruder wants blacks to think better of themselves. He is saying, Reject mediocrity. What’s so wrong with that? Sharpton would say, “Why bring Dr. King into it? Why bring that word into it?” Unnaturally preoccupied with the thought of fictional reincarnations of dead icons dropping racial slurs in a cartoon, Sharpton never thinks enough to ask the real question: Who better? What other character could McGruder have employed to better make the greatest point, which is that real change comes from within?
In total, Sharpton is objecting to “nigger,” a word sprinkled rather liberally throughout the series, but in this case made to come from the lips of an animated Martin Luther King, Jr., pulled from death in a script written by Aaron McGruder, the comic strip’s creator and original artist. “Cartoon Network must apologize and also commit to pulling episodes that desecrate black histories figures,” Sharpton said. “We are totally offended by the continuous use of the n-word in McGruder’s show.”
Doubtful Sharpton has seen or heard anything other than those excerpts offensive to him; also doubtful Sharpton sought them out himself, as opposed to some minion barging into his office with a piece of tape he “had to see.” Which is too bad, because when viewed completely, it’s hard to believe Sharpton would have this much of a problem.
We begin with this fact: Every summary of “Return of the King” you’ve read (other than the one I’m about to give you) is wrong. Not because reporters are trying to deceive you, but because they haven’t actually seen the episode and are therefore forced to rely upon faulty wire reports and other reporters’ flawed summations. “Return of the King” it set upon an interesting premise: King didn’t die on that horrible day in Memphis, he fell into a coma from which he didn’t awaken until October 2000.
Not long after waking King signs book and movie deals; the biopic is released one week after 9/11 and suffers greatly because of apathetic audiences, while in October 2001 he appears on Politically Incorrect and is asked how he believes America should respond to the Tragedies, given his belief in non-violence. “As a Christian, we are taught that you should love thy enemy, and if attacked, turn the other cheek.” King becomes a social pariah. His book is crushed, and in December 2001 CNN names him one of this country’s 10 most unpatriotic Americans.
Cartoon King befriends 10-year-old Huey Freeman and his grandfather Robert at a book signing no one else attends; eventually Huey convinces King to start the first black political party, whose defining moment is scheduled to come at an “emergency action planning committee meeting.” Realizing he has no experience with modern media, King employs an “urban promotions firm” to get the word out. The firm promptly fills the meeting with what we will politely call undesirables.
Thrust into a culture he simply cannot fathom, King watches his meeting descend into an out-of-control party, complete with crooked doormen, spurious speakers, loud music, dancing and fistfights. Finally, King can’t take anymore and assumes the podium, where he ascends into the tirade Al Sharpton finds so disturbing. It begins, “Is this it? This is what I got all those ass whoopins for?”
The scene is cut as to suggest King carries on for quite some time, covering a wide variety of topics before basically admitting defeat and announcing he’s moving to Canada. The speech is played all over television the next day – suddenly blacks are unified in a common desire to shake off “normal” and aspire to greater things. In a critical voiceover at the end of the episode Huey says, “It’s fun to dream.”
Unfortunately, McGruder writes an Oprah Winfrey presidency and a riot outside the White House into the dream (ironic, given King’s inclination toward non-violence), but his point is clear to anyone watching the show with open eyes: Aaron McGruder wants blacks to think better of themselves. He is saying, Reject mediocrity. What’s so wrong with that? Sharpton would say, “Why bring Dr. King into it? Why bring that word into it?” Unnaturally preoccupied with the thought of fictional reincarnations of dead icons dropping racial slurs in a cartoon, Sharpton never thinks enough to ask the real question: Who better? What other character could McGruder have employed to better make the greatest point, which is that real change comes from within?
10 February 2006
posted by Brian S. Wise | 8:28 AM
<< Home