Vaden, Ted. “Hip-hop comic shakes up readers.” The News & Observer 9 Jan. 2005. 5 Oct. 2007
“Hip-hop comic shakes up readers.”
One of the most frequent criticisms The News & Observer gets from readers these days is not about its news coverage at all, but about the comics.
Specifically, about one comic strip, "Boondocks." The cartoon may not generate the most phone calls or e-mails on any given day, but over time it feeds a low-grade fever of reader discontent that flares up from time to time.
The most recent eruption came during the holidays, when cartoonist Aaron McGruder took on Santa Claus and the Christmas spirit. In the days running up to Christmas, the strip showed a black Santa dispensing advice to the comic's young hip-hop kids, Huey and Caesar. "I'ma give y'all some advice," Santa says in the Christmas Eve column. "Drop out of school. Y'all ain't got no future. Just do drive-bys on each other and get it over with."
And on Christmas Day, it was: "So what do you Negro hooligans want for Christmas? Rims? Gold fronts? Huh?" Huey walks away, saying, "Okay, I think I've seen enough." To which Santa replies: "How 'bout a job? No, you wouldn't want that, would you?"
Funny? The strips didn't poke a lot of funny bones among my callers:
"I was offended by the blatantly racist comic in the Christmas Day issue," said reader Bob Wells. "The paper needs to offer an apology to the black community."
Said another caller, who didn't leave her name: "In the spirit of Christmas Day, it just sent the wrong message. I understand I'm not the target audience."
That's the way "Boondocks" seems to strike some of our readers -- offensive, negative, and, to many, impenetrable. McGruder is an in-your-face cartoonist who doesn't hesitate to take on the sacred and not-so-sacred icons of our time -- Dick Cheney and George W. Bush, yes, but also African-American figures such as Jesse Jackson, Whitney Houston and Puff Daddy.
He was the first cartoonist to criticize the Bush administration after 9/11, for anti-terrorism excesses, which prompted several newspapers to pull the strip. Later, he was dropped for a week from The Washington Post for cartoons about National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice that were deemed sexist and chauvinistic.
The N&O hasn't dropped the strip in the nearly three years we've been running it, although there have been times when we've crossed our fingers before publishing a particularly jalapeno panel. But the question might be asked, why do we publish the strip if it's patently offensive to some people?
Because, I submit, there's value to "Boondocks" that overrides the occasional offensiveness.
Here's the value: It is a satirical feature, intended to poke fun at the stereotypes of African-Americans held not just by whites but also by blacks and other cultures. The Santa barbs, for instance, were aimed at obsequious black folk who ingratiate themselves with white society. "I've known self-hating black people before, but this takes the cake," Huey says of the black Santa.
Granted, this humor is sometimes lost on those of us who aren't African-American or plugged in to hip-hop culture. But it doesn't hurt us, and I would suggest that there is consciousness-raising value if we pay close enough attention.
"I think the strip challenges people to think differently, and that to me is far more important than to have people thinking like me," McGruder told one interviewer. "I want to have people questioning what they're told on a daily basis."
Let it be known that the complaints I've received about the strip's "racism" all have come from white readers, at least as best I can tell. In that respect, I see the strip as welcoming readers to the comics page, and to The N&O, who might not be there otherwise.
"We want our features sections in general to represent a broad range of types of people and points of view," Tommy Goldsmith, who as N&O features editor oversees the comics, told me in an e-mail. "That extends to our comics pages, where we want humor that a range of readers can enjoy."
Goldsmith points out that there's a long history of controversy associated with comics pages, usually involving satire. Think back to "Pogo," "L'il Abner," "Little Orphan Annie." Even today's "B.C." strip is criticized occasionally for reflecting the conservative Christian views of its born-again creator, Johnny Hart.
Another question we're regularly asked is why "Boondocks," with its often political agenda, isn't run on the Op-ed page with its political soul-mate, "Doonesbury." Two reasons: 1) "Boondocks" doesn't regularly have a political message; it's often just humorous. And 2) If we moved all controversial comics there, they'd crowd out the opinion pieces. Then we'd really hear from readers. (Here's an idea: Move "Doonesbury" to the comics page.)
One good thing about "Boondocks," love it or hate it. It's brought people, including me, back to the comics pages, where I've renewed acquaintances with some old friends, like Gil Thorp and Beatle Bailey. And met some new ones, like Huey and Caesar.
2. I was looking for some comic strips that I could use for this portfolio. Unfortunately, I had a hard time finding comic strips on the internet. But I was led to this article, “Hip-hop comic strip shakes up readers” written by Ted Vaden. In his article, he is talking about a few “Boondocks” comic around Christmas in 2005. The comics by Aaron McGruder caused quite a stir. His comic featured two young black boys named Huey and Caesar meeting with Santa Claus. In the comic Santa says this to the boys, “I’ma give ya’ll some advice. Drop out of school. Ya’ll ain’t got no future. Just do drive-bys on each other and get it over with. Then in the Christmas day version, Santa says this to the boys, “So what do you Negro hooligans want for Christmas? Rims? Gold Fronts?” After Huey makes a comment, the Santa replies, “How ‘bout a job? No, you wouldn’t want that would you?” Vaden, who features this comic in his article doesn’t seem to think that it is too racist. He said that it is good that the comic makes us stop and think about ourselves. He also said that most of the people that called the comic racist were white, not black. He says the comic is a good thing, because it is always funny, but not racist all the time. It gets people’s attention back to the comics is another reason that he gave as to why the Boondocks comic strip is needed in the newpapers. The reason I chose this article was because I was amazed that a comic with those statement would even be allowed in a newspaper let alone on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
3. I think that this item relates to the entitlement that white people have over black people. This comic is pretty much saying that African Americans have no chance to make anything of themselves in this world, so they should just kill themselves instead of living a miserable life. My first post in my media portfolio dealt with how African Americans have increased their educational levels greatly over the last 150 years. This comic fails to see that as McGruder says through Santa. “Drop out of school. Ya’ll ain’t got no future.” According to our previous readings on the entitlement that white males have in our society, it does show that we do have advantages. But not to the point that African Americans have no chance to have a wonderful fulfilling life. Our readings don’t say that African Americans have no way to establish a bright future for themselves. With what I had previously read about the African Americans’ advancement in education, they will continue to make strides and by no means do they have no chance to make something of themselves in today’s society.
4. In my opinion, I thought that this comic was terrible any day of the year, let alone on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. But sad to say, in today’s world we do have ideas in our minds that all African Americans are thugs who drop out of school, don’t work, and do drive-bys in the inner cities. Although those ideas are clearly false, they are stuck in our memory and hard let go of. For me growing up in a predominantly white rural neighborhood, I must admit that I have had these false ideas about African Americans. I think some of it is that what we see on the national news is only the bad things. I think we associate blacks like this, because we only see the bad side. But coming to B.G. has opened my eyes that there are many African American people who want to make the most out of their lives and educate themselves to be just as successful if not more than their past ancestors.
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