OMG, I'M SHOCKED!!!

So I get this text message from a friend telling me to check out a blog site called Bossip.com. He tells me to look for the title “This Boondocks Episode Has Many People Upset At The Use Of The Word “Ni**er” With Uncle Ruckus & Jimmy Rebel“ and says this is what you should blog about for your women studies and cinema class. I watched the episode (which by the way, this was the first Boondocks episode I’ve seen) and about literally less than a minute into the episode I WAS SHOCKED!!!! This “adult” cartoon , which I’m sure adults aren’t the only ones that watch the show, was the most outrageous and cruel things about fellow African-Americans! And what’s even more outrageous the writer is BLACK!!! In fact Aaron Gruder, writer and creator of The Boondocks, plays his own character in the cartoon. Before you do watch this episode, I will warn you that they do say the word “nigger” about 100 times. Watch!!!

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Uncle Ruckus crazy character almost gives you the idea that racism might be a psychological illness and its effects might manifest in psychological dysfunction. He is a heavyset, dark-skinned “black” man who hates “black” people. Somehow, he has convinced himself that he is actually a white man with a skin condition he calls “re-vitiligo”. “That’s the opposite of what Michael Jackson’s got,” he explains. Ruckus believes in the sanctity and purity of the “white race.” He regularly reiterates the philosophy that “whites” are naturally better and more intelligent than non-white people in all subjects.

The Uncle Ruckus character is perhaps the most divisive and controversial of The Boondocks cast. However, here’s a not-so-fun fact that seeks to mitigate the absurdity of Uncle Ruckus: “black” people can be sort of hard on each other. For all the talk you hear about us having “unity” and “sticking together”, we don’t always carry it out. That’s a generalization, of course, which is why I keep putting quotations around words denoting racial classifications, like “black” and “white”, and also around the phrase “black community”.

Setting aside any biological components to these words, I think much of the issue centers around our social, and to some degree “imaginary”, constructions, leading us to both complicate and oversimplify the subject of race. But when it comes to Uncle Ruckus, I think there’s a little bit of him in all of us (African Americans), although it might not manifest in real life with the same savage fierceness as it does on the show. It is a cycle of oppression. Racism is the core component of oppression. The media have played a key role in perpetuating the effects of this historical oppression and in contributing to African-Americans continuing status as second-class citizens. The media is a profitable industry, in which the elite will continue to suppress the lower class in order to maximize profits.

Uncle Ruckus is seen trying on his “white voice,” and the hilarity continues throughout the episode. It is said that this was one of the more racist episodes that the Boondock’s has released thus far, but they always manage to do it in a way that makes it obvious that they are being sarcastic.

Here are a few quotes from the episode:

“See, Uncle Ruckus…he’s very, very sick. He caught the Nigerian Monkey Pox. Very contagious. As if they internet scams and underwear bombing wasn’t bad enough.” -Uncle Ruckus to Jimmy Rebel

“You know all these years I’ve been singing about niggers, I probably only done had a conversation with 5 of ‘em at the most.” – Jimmy Rebel to Uncle Ruckus

“You know what the liberals and the NAACP never could figure out? It’s not the color of a man’s skin. It’s not the big lips or how y’all say arr-uh instead of “R.” It’s the attitude, stupid. A fella can’t control what color he is, but he can control his attitude. – Jimmy Rebel to Uncle Ruckus

“You remember when I said how we hate the blacks because of their attitude? Man, I think that’s a load of shit. You’re just like one of us, Ruckus, and they still hate you. And it’s not your attitude, it’s ’cause you’re black.” – Jimmy Rebel to Uncle Ruckus