Operation Black Steel: Black Identity
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- Alternate Title: Cause' I Know You Didn't Read The Comic Strip~
I'm back from the dead with a video about one of the more underappriciated aspects of The Boondocks franchise. The original comic strip. And, before it became Bush, 911 and Eddie Murphy movies, it explored inter and intraracial relations between black people in predominantly white areas, and explored the struggle of embracing your culture, as a result.
Take a trip down memory lane with me, while we talk about the original Boondocks comic strip that ran in syndication from 1999 to Early 2006.
Twitter: / thesoulminded
I've never done plugs before, espicially a mixtape of all things, but be on the look out for the Hip Hop Doctrine 5 mixtape dropping November 6th 2018. Shout out everyone working with me on it. Peace and love.
That’s genius how Huey said “I’m mixed too; part black, part African, part negro, and part colored.”
I really REALLY hated how the stuff I'd love to do would of been considered whack because it didn't meet the standards of my fellow black family
I feel you bro.
Yeah... (tho my family weren't/aren't very extreme.)
That's when you whack them over the head with your knowledge/skills.
I embrace a level of agency that is kind of on the brink of chaotic/da da. People are often confused by my choices and interests as well but over time, they learn to not attribute their confusion to racial differences, rather idealogical differences.
Your last few minutes remind me of the one Fresh Prince episode where a frat bro didn't accept Carlton because Carlton wasn't Black by that guy's standards. Carlton (while his naivete was one of his biggest traits) is a good example of someone who accepts his Black heritage as part of who he is, while still sticking to his personal interests regardless of others' opinions, bumping to his "white music" and doing his "white hobbies" cuz they're simply activities that he enjoys doing.
Damn I thought of the same shit😂
I remember that. It also reminded me of Scrubs when Turk is being mocked by Dr. Cox. "You have a nerdy white best friend and you certainly ACT black....but these are all traits of WHITE guys!"
@@RedFloyd469 Nice break down of each of the characters. Uncle Phil seems trapped in a way. He's aware of the racial injustice (like in the episode where Will and Carlton get pulled over for driving a nice car) but seems unwilling to make waves because he doesn't want to lose his wealth and good standing. I think having a black butler might have been done to avoid offending white people maybe?
Geoffrey is one of my favorite characters and I love his moments of sass. But yeah, in terms of the internal logic of the show....why DID Uncle Phil hire a black butler? (and replace his wife with a lighter skinned one lol!)
@Fictional Subliminals I think she violated her contract by getting pregnant. So while the pregnancy and new baby were written into the show, she was still let go. I don't know why she her replacement was written to be much more subtle. Perhaps they wanted to downplay her as much as possible after the swap.
KaBoom I heard that the original actor was actually hard to work with behind the scenes, which is why they did the swap and made her character more subtle after the time of the pregnancy in the show.
I loved Jazmine, it was always great to see her gentle naivety compliment Huey’s blunt nihilism
I really enjoyed the boondocks mainly because even a character like ruckus is an allegory to some type of people
Him being the people who outright reject their ethnicity
Despite being constantly reminded of his own blackness, he still remains adamant that he is white and rejects that aspect of him
I can relate to that a lot considering I also have that exact same problem, in the fact that I’m constantly reminded that I’m an Arab
And throughout the years I’ve started hating Arabic culture and the state of their countries
Whenever it comes up it feels like people are looking as if I’m uncle ruckus
Someone who is X no matter how much they deny it
This is the only time a show has gotten me to introspect to this point
Thank you for bringing this series to my eyes
And don’t die again please we missed you
wait... you're an Arab uncle ruckus?
whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
I know right
And thing with that is that whenever I say my parents are from morroco most have looked shocked
I’ve had one dude say
You look so Jewish though
It was pretty funny
Really?
I actually wonder what you like now...
hmmm an arab who looks like a jew...
why am i weird suddenly?
How am I supposed to know
I’m just a guy who comments
but ask yourself, in what sense IS uncle ruckus black? his skin color? ruckus has pretty much completely acclimated to white culture and doesnt belong in the african american community. Why would he consider himself something he worked his whole life to reject and wasnt him? Uncle's biggest sin is to project his distaste into every African American as if the color of your skin pre-determined everything about you, not that he doesnt relate to african-american culture.
Damn I just realized Uncle Ruckus and Tom are supposed to combine to be Uncle Tom because they both resent their own blackness
I don't think it's fair to say Tom resents his blackness. He just doesn't view blackness in the same way as other in the show. He's not like Ruckus who is overtly hostile blackness in general, he's more like a black conservative, he wants to be a man before a "black man".
@@JamCooper yeah I think that's the point, they're not the same person, and they have different life styles and opinions, but they both resent their blackness. In Reverend Ruckus, when Ruckus is preaching about white heaven, Tom actually agrees with a lot of what Ruckus says and ends up saying "I hate them all [black people]." They're two sides to the same coin, and that's why their names combined makes Uncle Tom
@@JamCooper Think Tom could be a reference to W.E.B Du Bois, the black civil rights activist during the Harlem Renaissance but I'm not sure
Instrumentality1000 lol
@@JamCooper he resents being black and claims everything else
Remember: Blackness is not a performance.
Don't seek to be black, instead seek to be the truest version of yourself. Because you are black, this will result in you being black. As you seek to be a good man, woman, or something else, this will result in you being a good black man, woman , or something else. as you seek to be a strong man, woman, or something else, you become that strong black man, woman, or something else.
as you embrace your community, you embrace blackness along with whatever else is floating in your DNA. As you seek to learn your history (as all people, regardless of race should) you learn black history because it is your history. Mali and Songhai are as much a part of you as the Tulsa riots and the Tuskegee project.
As you embrace your natural resistance to sunburn, skin cancer and lice, you embrace, you embrace yourself.
blackness isn't a show, its who you are. you needn't put on a show.
wish you had more likes so more could see this
Well said👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
WHY DOESN'T THIS HAVE A 1,000 LIKES ALREADY ?
Excellent indeed!
Well said bro
I grew up in a white suburb that didn't have many other black people until my teens. The only times I was around people like me were at family gatherings or Church. Most of my friends growing up were like comic!Cindy, and MAAN does that lead to a lot of racial confusion. Those early strips about Jasmine's racial identity quite literally changed my life, and I don't know where I'd be if I never read them.
That sounds great, man. I always loved the early comic strip Boondocks stuff. It's a shame Aaron transitioned away from that and began to focus more on solely politics, as opposed to mixing everything together like he did before.
Speaking personally, I really do relate to the struggles of all the characters, if I'm honest. I've had moments where I've felt like all of them, and that's kinda why I decided to make this video in the first place. Huey, Riley, Caesar and Jasmine really do speak to an experience many people of colour have had. And, it's nice to know I'm not the only one who feels that way.
@@TheStorytellerAJ TheStoryteller I've seen the leaked clip from the pilot for The Boondocks and I still wonder what it would be like if it maintained its Afro-Peanuts tone. Another casualty of the Bush Administration, I guess.
Oh god, you even know.
A lot of The Boondocks community gets caught up in the "niggatry" of the show, but they forget how originally the franchise was founded on essentially being "The Black Peanuts". Even the very name "The Boondocks" is supposed to be a reference to how they were black people put into the suburbs.
The show, around Season 2/3, just kinda forgets that and does whatever the hell it wants. I was talking to a friend about this, but The Boondocks isn't even about The Boondocks anymore. It just became "Huey the Scowl and his Nigga Family."
The thing is, the politics aren't inherently bad. Season 1/2 and even the early strips were pretty good and creative with tackling these issues. Say, "A Date with the Health Inspector" or "The Hunger Strike" or the rough references to the state of the world. Politics was always a part of The Boondocks' identity. But, it was never all it was. So when Season 3 came around, and Huey had nothing to say cause' there was nothing to "inherently" cynical about, it was disheartening to see the Season turn into 15 straight episodes of parodies, instead of exploring the thing it was originally supposed to explore.
You might notice this with Operation Black Steel, but when I do go back to The Boondocks, it'll mainly be through Season 1 and 2, simply because I don't believe Season 3 and 4 have anything much of substance to say.
@@TheStorytellerAJ TheStoryteller TheStoryteller I didn't see an episode of the Boondocks until season 3 was airing, but after that, I went on a *deeeeep* dive. Ironically enough, Huey's brief explanation on Prison Labor in Season 3 and the resolution of Tom's character arc is what made me check out the rest of the franchise, and unfortunately, neither of those are what people take away from the Booty Warrior episode (let's be honest, they weren't the focus).
It's hard, because there's a lot of humanity to these characters that gets buried under the shock humor as the series goes on. There's glimpses of it in season 3, but the show became obsessed with outdoing itself. -Season 4? What season 4?-
-You must be taking about Black Jesus, right?-
I think what I'm trying to say is that the show loses a lot of steam once it stops treating its characters as people with motivations and goals.
Ohhhhh boy, I don't get me started on Season 4. But, I'll just say this. It's not as simple as everyone thinks it is, and Aaron undoubtedly was involved in the writing of every single episode produced. That said, the problem with a lot of Season 3 and 4 episode is that they get so caught in being parodies that they forget to make a point. The cool idea is buried in the shock value.
Hell, take "Breaking Grandad" Season 4, but Aaron still wrote it. It has the elements of black people fascinating over white hair, instead of embracing the beauty of their own. But instead of making a point about that, it just turns into a parody of the first episode of Breaking Bad. I mean, even the Booty Warrior episode you brought up. There's a good episode there. The point Huey makes about the prison industrial complex is sound, but instead of structuring the episode around that point and making jokes/satire around it, it decides to dedicate most of its time to anal prison rape jokes.
I swear, I'm so conflicted on this stuff too. Because, I'm not sure if Aaron had ran out of ideas, or was more concerned with just being current and funny. I wanna say that latter, because there were interviews around Season 2 which seem to indicate that. But, I think in becoming obsessed with being funny with "inappropriate negro humour" The Boondocks began to lose the heart, which was the foundation of the original comic strip, and by extension, the first two Seasons of the show.
I'm glad a series like this exists just because the Boondocks is such a dense series that I know most YTers wouldn't cover all the good shit in the comics & Season 1 when they talk about it.
Your final speech reminds me a bit of Carlton's speech about being black on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air when someone doesn't accept him into a Black Praternity because he acts "too white".
He says "Black is not something I do, it's what I am." and he explains that he deals with the same trials that they do in being a black man.
While not ENTIRELY true because he has a rich family that makes it a lot easier for him with rich privilege, he is correct and as Will explains it well, he is a positive addition because of how smart and savvy he is in the upper circles. He might not be as entrenched in black culture and representation as others, but he is aware enough to be a voice in those circles.
This actually works as a form of development for the character because this takes place in the 4th season ("Blood is Thicker than Mud") and Carlton is shown in the first season to really think that racism was a "past" thing and that the system would protect him as seen in "Mistaken Identity" where he is wrongfully arrested as a car thief along with Will. It shows a change in the characters understanding of his status and how it affects him.
He understands and embraces his status, but he doesn't stop loving what he loves. That doesn't make him any less black than any other person on the show.
He might not be as entrenched in [another] black culture. He is in his own, and his own family's culture.
"Rock is really whi-"
*Elvis intensifies*
lmao
"Sound really white." I didn't hear it, personally, but as a Black dude in the U.S. that's all I used to hear. That being said, I put that "white guy voice to work like it was "Sorry To Bother You" at work. ...I am ashamed to say how well it worked...
Being able to articulate yourself as a black man is still a shocker to a lot of people. Just goes to show how little they think of us, and most importantly, how little we think of ourselves. Ever been at a public setting or job interview and been told "You're so well-spoken." Translated, that means "I'm surprised you're not acting like the crazy niggas in see in the media."
I used to hear that as early as 7 years old. As I got older, I stopped believing that I was "well-spoken" and that I was just weird, but I didn't change it because my mom got on me about how I spoke. She always wanted people to know how strong my command of "English" was. These days, I'm like, a dialect is a dialect, whether you speak "proper" English or slang/AAVE, none of that denotes intelligence, I just wish I was taught that as a kid.
I had a black co-worker who "talked white" around me and my friend, but once his black friend came, he "talked black".
Hahaha, beat-for-beat, same as when I was young. The black half of my family talked in a more "black" sort of intonation, but my white mother always convinced me to talk like I was in a shakespear play... So now everyone points out my "command of the English language," whereas my sister who has darker skin and has embraced her heritage more because of it says that I'm "pretending to do a voice." Like...who do you want me to be??? I don't even know myself. Sometimes I slip back into sounding more like my family, when I'm having a rough day, haha. @@GuardianNewtonTurner
It's like trying to keep who you are preserved, but everyone around you is demanding you sound more like their expectations. It's exhausting, but now, I strike the tone of basically speaking in partial codeswitching. I speak with slang I like mixed with "proper English" (you know, talking white.) But I'm tired of trying to alter my speech to make other people feel more comfortable. So, I constantly tell people that the way people talk, whether it's black or white folks, it's all just English, dialectical differences. If people can understand you then it's not "ignorant" or whatever bullshit white people want us to believe. And for black folks, I'll say that it's not talking white so much as it's speaking in the generally expected way English was conceptualized, I guess. "Source English," I guess I'd call it. @@SantaFishes101
One of my biggest passions is videogames. A dear friend of mine also loves videogames. It's how we became friends. We've both dealt with crap for being female gamers, but she's black and I'm white. There's a whole other level of crap she had to deal with on her own that I never knew about, until recently. I also see it in the comment sections of gaming youtubers who are black. Why can't people just be allowed to enjoy the things they like?
Personally I never had a problem as a female gamer. I don't really know where that's coming from it must be an American thing maybe?
@@laurene988 I'm British
@@jdprettynails well then that's strange. I'm Irish and I've never had any problems
@@laurene988 So because it never happened to you personally, it couldn't possibly happen to anyone else?
@@jdprettynails no I'm more than willing to hear your story because I've just never encountered it
I’m gonna go off character here, (not act as a robot) I’m glad you mentioned the whiting of culture in Latin America , it also happened in South America too. The sad part is that you don’t have to look too far back to see the problems. My mother was never liked by dad’s mom because for them a woman coming from the high mountains 🏔 is considered savage but grandma was slightly was ok with her because she was a bit pale and when she grave birth to my older brother my grandma was so happy that he was white. That’s just mess up..
I happens In my Tribe currently. The half white Natives are in charge, and kiss ass to get money for themselves.
While someone like me, who is dark skinned (I'm rather light compared to my mothers tribe. Lol) has to fight to be taken seriously...
Like. Guys. Come on. Our culture should matter, we survived genocide. We survived through sterilization and all of these horrible things.
Let's be proud to be Lakota [insert every other indigenous identity across the world]
I adore how the messages you show in your videos are universal in appeal.
It is true that the subject of this video was black identity and what it means to be black, but the notion that we must remember our past, embrace our culture, accept ourselves, anyone can learn from this!
The funny thing with Jasmine and her wanting to mimic Eurocentric beauty standards is that when I was younger, I always thought her hairstyle was the prettiest thing I had ever seen.
I actually had that hair style growing up after my mom decided to stop braiding my hair once a week and I had to take care of it myself but no one had really taught me how. It was hard work to even put it up in that style comparatively to the effort everyone else I knew went through with their hair. Kids would try to throw things into it to see if they would stick while I was in class, some kids would touch without asking and then get grossed out by the hair oil I used, kids and parents of my friends would make jokes about electric sockets. It was pretty awful. My family couldn't afford relaxers often but sometimes my black relatives would take me to salons or do a home relaxer. My hair was so thick that even black salons would clown me for how much I had. It took so long to straighten that my ears were burned by the chemical process every time. But I got so many compliments when I wore it straight from both black and white people. I eventually stopped doing relaxers because of that and went mostly with hot irons, which do sometimes result in burns but they hurt less. I related to Jasmine a lot.
@@LC-sc3en That is really awful
It's funny looking at the comments, how "others" are trying to All Lives Matter this subject.
Michael Butler I ramble, so friend I'll try my best to be blunt, this isn't a "white person totally gets you" story, it'll be productive.
All Lives Matter was disgusting to me, no matter how misguided and derailed the BLM movement became I felt the point from the beginning was "We feel we're being flagrantly persecuted and even executed by a government body supposedly meant to protect us, and not enough at all is being done. We feel we're being told by proxy that our lives are easily disposed of and not worth as much, we have to remind you we matter too" but no 'too' in the title so immediately it was reduced to a semantics joke and "Isn't everyone supposed to be equal?! 😂" intentional obfuscation of the core issue raised, maddening.
But let me try something, if it works you'll feel good and ease some mental tension, it helps me. Picture someone who might be in and LOOK in great physical condition, but can't work because crippling, unfeasible anxiety stops them leaving the house. Now here's me with my shattered legs, I'll never walk again, my problem can be noticed by anyone who glances at me, shouldn't I think the extreme agoraphobe in the first example REALLY doesn't have much to complain about, by comparison?
What I'm saying is you may be absolutely right, if what you think is that these white people are jumping into an issue you feel is disproportionate and especially unfair towards blacks. They reduce the issue to what everyone experiences, ignore the point of disproportion raised and entirely deflate the cause. I'm Autistic, I'm not saying it's similar at all to being black. What it is PRECISELY is something I struggle and often can't cope with. Anyone can deflate my issues by describing their fleeting and respectfully challenging anxieties, but then go on with their lives with relative ease, I can't and my problem has been essentially ignored though with good intentions, I've had to barrel through this.
So I say what you have here (and the best way to capitalise) are empathetic white people who want to be on your side, they're genuinely offering what they feel is their strongest example of a similar time that hurt them in hopes you identify with it and it serves you at all, like they'd want if they felt mistreated. Now you can acknowledge that their weakness troubles them, stresses them, is hard for THEM to cope with, and then you teach them about yours. Showing profound compassion and communicating empathy and kindness may or may not be fair contextually but it is, I shit you not, the most miraculous way to get people to see through your lens, you need to want to help them. You and whoever both make friends as you both listen, it's intensely freeing and productive, you need to induce that in people. Also don't let them drag your point where you didn't intend it, I'd say be proactive and assertive on that no matter who you are.
If this did become a "white guy totally gets you" story, apologies. I really hope you gleam anything useful from it though, forcing myself to understand and empathise with what deeply abrades me is all that has kept me sane for big chunks of my life, if you can manage it you'll literally feel your mind evolve like a superpower, the long tension headache finally breaks, it'll save your sanity too.
@@thagrammarnazi Bro those issues aren't because of race, that is exactly what All Lives Matter was tellign you about and even you yourself are explaining it to a point that you align to the fact that EVERYONE thinks Gov are fucking assholes Xd
@@thagrammarnazi That was very well said, thank you👍🏾
How about simply "Lives Matter" :)
Who keeps saying that Huey is a black nationalist? Did Huey call himself that? Did the creator? Because the black panthers, founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, wasn't nationalist. In fact, if anyone knows anything about the mainstream media during the civil rights movement, "Black Nationalist" was actually an exonym. A word used by people not within the movement.
In an interview on the Mike Douglas show in 1972, John Lennon interviewed Bobby seale and said that the BPP doesn't believe in nationhood or nationalism, because those concepts were akin to superiority, which is akin to racism, and sectarianism. Hell, Seale went as far as to say that the purpose of the BPP was to lead by example so that the poor and oppressed people worked together not because of the colour of their skin, but rather for their basic mutual interests.
James Heller the Panthers politics evolved over time. Black Nationalism is something that has existed since Martin Delaney was writing in the nineteenth century. In the beginning, the Panthers had a black nationalist position that it inherited from RAM and Malcolm X’s OAAU. It eventually rejected that in favor of revolutionary internationalism. Many Black nationalists find revolutionary nationalism distinct from the reactionary kind and based their definition on Stalin’s definition of the nation. With that being said, at least in the show, Huey is identified as a Black Nationalist.
I think what he meant was Huey Freeman had like a "pure black" Ideology I guess. Like he was always about movements and protests and stuff
You can even see the points you made about Huey and Riley in their design. Huey has a 1970's Black Panther Party look with his natural hair, whereas Riley has the modern commercial image of Black Culture with his cornrows.
This is a really interesting and insightful watch.
I relate this in a similar fashion irl so i can kinda tell where some of this coming from and if i'm honest, it basically rings true. Balances needed to be struck, become an extreme, you become what you're negatively perceived as. Recognise your history but don't feel afraid to see today and live life like it's today.
You're points really hit the nail and your research backs it up substantially giving it that extra oomph which really drives it home.
If this is a taste of Free Huey World Report, then bring it on!
Congrats on 5k btw.
Yeah! Same.
I loved this show growing up (still do) and I appreciate all the videos you've been making on it. I never feel right talking about how much I love it because I'm white living in a suburb, and all my affluent white friends have no idea why I connect with it other than "it's a funny show" because I moved to the suburbs at 16. The first 16 years of my life were spent in a 1b1b house in the ghetto with 7 people living inside. Because we were broke and couldn't live in anywhere outside the ghetto. So all my friends and schoolmates growing up watched this show and we all felt something regardless of our personal ethnicity. And when I DID move to a nice, white Chicago suburb? I identified with Huey and Riley because of their displaced identities. I grew up on hip hop and rap and R&B and suddenly we were in a country/"light rock" area where it was too quiet, and suddenly I realized the culture shock the boys face in the show, at least a little. I have no Blackness to embrace, but this show legit helped me through weird transitions in my life, and helped me learn something about the culture of my childhood friends more than they could. It means a lot to me, even if I can't fully identify with the main characters, and watching your videos on thus show helped me realize what made it so special to me personally (and learn a lot more to love about it). Thank you, dude.
Without attempting to move the focus of this discussion out of bounds, I enjoyed that you dichotomized parts of your own identity to demonstrate how individuality works within the confines of culture. However there was one example I happen to take issue in. Rock&Roll however white it is now, has its roots firmly in African American history. It was taken, copied, and the original histories erased. Sister Rosetta Tharpe was only recently recognized for her work in pioneering the entire modern genre. Great content amigo.
Love this vid. An ex I had a bad break up with went as far as to complain about how I “dress like a white man” lol I was like what is that even.
IT AINT HARD TO TELL
I EXCELL THEN PREVAIL
damn you have good music taste.
THE MIC IS CONTACTED
I ATTRACT CLIENTELE
If you're a Hip Hop head, even if you disagree with what I have to say, you'll like my channel's music selection. It's in all my videos. I'm glad people take notice.
I remember this one time one of my black friends actually revoked my n-word privileges because I was black and didn't listen to rap music.
Does reinstatement require a lot of paperwork?
did u listen to something like idk pop music by white people
@@adu9422 He quizzed me on rappers both modern and old and when I failed he toom it away
You have insightful ideas and I think that with a bit more research you could develop this into something with true scholarship. Great job and good contribution to the platform ❤
Thanks, I appreciate it. I'll keep up my grind.
@@TheStorytellerAJ I think you would like the book Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead. The character deals with a lot of themes you talk about in this video. Can't wait to see more from you. This was the second video I watched of yours 😊 Good stuff
I just looked up and I'm doing some reading up on it. Sounds like my kind of thing. Thanks for the reccomendation. I'll look into reading it sometime next week.
"Rock is really white" I know you know how Ironic that is, but I did have to laugh a little lol
Man British brother: I LOVE your commentary!! Your work is awesome. It makes me dive deeper into the cartoon, and it’s inventor. Thank you🙂
What does it mean to be black?” Everyone answers this question so differently. If we define what being black means does that also mean we define what being white, asian, or arab isn’t?
we are individuals, not a hive mind so there technically is no definition. walk your path because a squirrel can never tell an eagle how to fly
spacecowboy776 yes there is. A black person is “generally people with total or partial ancestry from any of the black racial groups in Africa.” And saying there’s no definition makes no sense. By that logic someone can be white and claim to be black and use that as a justification for saying the n word. But we don’t do that, right? You cannot just pick your race. Race exists. You’re born with it and you have to learn to embrace you are. I’m sorry if this is long but this comment just really confused me...
@@journeybeyondthesea I think spacecowboy was referring to that there is no way to "act black", not that black as a race doesnt exist
12:08 “Rock is really white.”
That is in fact how it has come to be perceived and has a predominantly white amount of contributors and audience....
What is interesting to me though... is in fact that Rock has a lot of it’s roots from Blackness....
Many see The Blues as a precursor to Modern Rock. And Modern Rock was in fact pioneered by Jimi Hendrix....
Yet rock is in fact mainly viewed and practiced as a White music on the spectrum.... yet music itself is so vastly intricate within it’s own evolutionary history and progression.
The Europeans did what?!
Look up Blaquiemento. It was a government scheme designed to whiten the population in Latin America, both culturally and visually. Some coloured women knowingly went along with it, because they wanted to provide better opportunities for their children. That's white supremacy, and that mindset manifests itself even today in the thoughts and minds of some people. It's sad how history shapes what the world is.
The thought back then was if there was part of the globe that didn’t belong to the Europeans
There was a problem that needed to be fixed
Some countries haven’t fully recovered from the Europeans leaving the country
@TheSeductiveArts maybe they were reaching, for Albinos? One was my friend, but having been raised in a largely black community, chose to overcompensate as a result... Yeah. She makes sure there's no way to overlook it (like Riley pretty much) and sometimes goes out of her way to wear the poof now that it's more in style to "perform blackness".
Maybe they need more representation along with the rest of us after all.. she sort of ruined her life, being about her hood, in Oakland, even after leaving it..
TheSeductiveArts Don't be ignorant.
This is a huge problem in Australia and among Aboriginal + Torres Strait Islanders, the native Australian people. During Australia's colonial period, they implemented a plan to... basically? Fuck the blakfella for generations until they are white. Australia is one of the youngest countries to be freed from Britain, so they pretty much had this whole coloniser thing handled. The result? Aboriginals make up 2-3% of the population, and a good amount of that are exceedingly lightskinned and white passing. Should they reject their ethnic background, their culture, over shit colonisers did to their families they had no control over? Absolutely not.
There's an Aussie saying about this:
"No matter how much milk you add; still coffee."
@@TheStorytellerAJ True, Peruvian here, that mindset is still very alive, _"mejorar la raza" (improve the race)_ is something that often comes out of my older relatives and a more diluted version of that from my young-adult relatives (some, I must clarify). That saying is common in South America and the Caribbean. More white = *opportunities,* but that was in the past, yet it's hard to get rid of that mindset. Context of that deep rooted thinking is, for example, the pre-terrorism era in Peru, a cycle of perpetual poverty was linked to Andean heritage. The Andean population (Quechua/Aymara speakers) was barely granted education, not sharing the same language was their biggest disadvantage, _"el trueque" (barter-trading)_ was how they survived, taxes drained them, their chances to begin a business were slim to none cause old money ruled, and no loans 'cause what bank would dare to give a chance to a broke illiterate? At least race could get you a good husband or a better status. At least whiteness could get your offspring ahead of the ladder.
This video hits close to home as someone who is Biracial. I'm white and black but by skin is white, I got freckles and long red super curly hair so I don't look black besides how my face is constructed and my hair ( minus the color). I've felt torn if I could be accepted by black people, and it always felt like I wasn't black enough. But my sisters and dad really taught me that blackness isn't a trait or look, it's who you are and nobody can take that anyway. I've meant people like Jasmine who can't just be them and it's honestly really sad. I feel really bad for these people who can't come to terms with that part of themselves.
Great video. I would have added something about Cindy though. On the spectrum of "Black Identity" she is almost identical to Riley except for the fact that she is white. She intead represents the whites want to imitate black culture in the way they see it (atleast, that's what I took from it)
Okay, the thing with Cindy is that she's radically different in the comic strip than in the show. And, to be honest, I absolutely hate how the show portrayed her, as opposed to the strip. Cindy in the strip was designed to be this white girl who exoticised Huey, and black people, because of how popular the culture is. But, she has such a "commercialised" understanding of black people, that she doesn't understand that every black person isn't Kanye or Puffy or whatever. A very fixed outlook on what black people are.
The SHOW on the other hand, just makes her white Riley. Some wigger girl who says, well, nothing. I get that they went for her imitating black culture as opposed to exoticising it in the strip, but when everyone in the show Season 2 is acting like a crazy nigga besides Huey, it starts to get pretty annoying.
TheStoryteller makes sense, I’ll check out the comics more
Wait who's Isis? Was she a early character concept that never appeared, cause I've never seen her in the comics. I mean I never saw Hiro either, but I know he existed.
Oh hoh hoh. I'll go into it with The Free Huey World Report.
But, there's way more lost info on The Boondocks. To briefly explain though, she was essentially designed to balance the craziness of everyone else. She was pro-female revolution stuff, and she was Caesar's love interest.
I must say you have got me intrigue as well. I can not wait for her profile.
I'm so thankful for adultswim for putting this on tv for me too watch when I was a small child. I'm remember watching this a whole summer then going to visit my father and how my lens had completely changed on his ideals and I saw his ignorance for what it was
I relate to Jasmine a lot. I'm introverted Asperger's kid who's mom is black and father is half-Arabic Half-white while growing up in upper-middle-class suburbs. I went through a period of exploring what it means to be any of my ethnicity's and found during that I didn't know anything about Black, Arab, Irish, Christian, or Muslim History or culture (my mom was Rasing 5 kids while having a job most of the first part of my childhood trying to mainly get help with my Autism, my Dad was on business trips or lazy), and I felt like nothing. I felt like I had no community, I struggled to make friends and I look like the token mixed child, showing shades of so many different things some people were genuinely confused when they saw me. I've learned a lot since then and I like to study. I've learned that Humans are always multifaceted creatures defined by so many things and within a culture their will always be subculture's; more to your Identity Then the city (which block, how much money, what your hobby, what's your way of making money). I still have to sort through a lot of things, but that's life.
isn´t the main reason jazmine strives forward "european beauty" that her mother is the white parent??
if her mom was the black parent i assume she would be all "black is beautiful"
ps: no individualist culture has one singular identity but the "american negroes" seem to be the only "group" trying to be a individualist collective
Baum Mann
That is true, I mean look at Sam from Dear White People
@All Light how is the shade of your skin changing who you are? Assuming when you say 'better', you mean all-round, but thats where you're wrong. I'm sure you have relatives that are dark skinned and how do you think they would feel knowing this is what you think of them?
All Light You're joking, right? _Right?_
@@hexx2211 just a self hating black guy trolling the comment sections
Aight so to answer your question, nah. My mom is black, and I grew up in a mainly white neighbourhood, and I still found myself trying to emulate the pretty white girls for 16 years. I was damaging my hair with perm and flat irons for so long, and I even used to cut my hair to look like a white girl.
The point is, never did I look at my mom, or the other black women in my family and say “I want to be like them” because it was never a standard of beauty I saw emulated in the media I regularly consumed. Only when I simply became too lazy to continue straightening my hair, and started actively looking for hair tutorials for hair like mine, did I start embracing my puffy ass hair. After being able to embrace my hair, did I start embracing the part of me that’s black.
The greatest struggle, I think, of being a Black American is fighting the hate without and the hate within. For those of us who are Dark-Skinned, the reality of our unfortunate situation is unavoidable. The best thing to do, I think, is to accept that things are not designed for us, but that that isn't specifically done from a place of hate and that hating that fact does nothing to erase it. Our forefathers (at least the Black ones) didn't have the resources to do what we can do today. We have a moral obligation to try to help those that look like us defeat the hate they hold for themselves and the resentment that holds them back from the world.
Hmm
this is really interesting because there's so much thought put into how to embrace a black identity. technically, any black person being themselves is defining the black identity as they live, just by being black and having an identity of their own. technically, this should be all it takes. but there's a whole world and culture out there to react to. the black identity, in some ways, seems to have a life of it's own when it comes to commercial image, history, familial ties, the treatment coming from non-black people, and so on. it is by no means homogeneous, but it's something that a black person will have to develop thoughts and feelings on, and those feelings become a part of them as much as any other self-generated part of their identity. if those feelings predictably run strong within someone's psyche, that's just as valid as them being an individual who breaks with a lot of expectations and traditions. there isn't really a wrong or right way to contend with all of this... it's a lot to put on anyone.
(full disclosure, I'm a white person from nowhere america... I've been fortunate to grow up in a town with a university that brings a lot of diversity to my area, but I operate under zero delusions that I know what it would be like to live the black experience. I'm just going on empathy and speculation in this comment. the video was thought provoking and I appreciate it very much.)
Holy shit nigga. That "lovin it" instrumental...such a throw back
I throwback to throwbacks.
Amazing content like the boondocks and these videos really provide a huge amount of insight to the struggle and introspection as well as the content of character of a people I really knew nothing about.
you're awesome bro!!!! Thank you for doing your part and spreading the word.
wow, I am so happy I found this video! I needed to hear this message especially the part about mixed people.
12:07 Hang on, hang on, hang on. Rock owes its existence to Jazz and Blues so at its roots you could say it's black
Black identity, white identity, Asian identity, etc.....does it really matter? why limit yourself from experiencing different hobbies because of a notion of what it means to be what color of skin you have.
Wow you did not watch the fucking video did you?
@@KhayJayArt Well he is reiterating the point of the video, I believe. The guy in the video clearly pointed out how we as a people should not and do not shut down forms of cultural expression because such forms of expression can be viewed as betraying some black identity. Black identity matters, but at the same time we are people that happen to be black, so we cannot be expected to always uphold some black standard.
I agree with Noah when he says that doing so would limit the human experience. Color should not matter to anyone. Of course we live in a world that is not colorblind forcing us to be conscious of our own skin--we cannot control others, but we can choose to not be bogged down by the concept of race ourselves.Every character in this show is bogged down by the concept of race...be it for their over-acceptance or hyper-rejection of their own race.
Exactly
@@drethethinker6418 You failed to comprehend.
@@ttubebaby 11:49 he straight up suggests we not limit ourselves to one cultural experience. Who's not comprehending?
I’ve never knew a lot of mixed kids rejected their black sides mainly a lot uplift their black side well where I’m from
Well it all depends on the person. Some mix people hate being black and some love being black. That's pretty much true about black people on general... There's also a lot more solidarity happening now compared to ten years ago. So things will change. They always do.
The only ones I knew who did that had midkey racist mothers and family. All my life I've been told I was black and grew up in predominantly black neighborhoods to the point where my mom was the only white person. I choose to identify as biracial though, but most mixed kids I've met identified as black and/or dogged or didn't acknowledge their white heritage.
lordblazer I agree I use to hate my blackness but mainly around NYC a lot of mixed people stay within their black side than white and most of the time most mixed people around where I live date and marry darker toned black people
I eat cheese I never knew most mixed kids would identify as black here in NYC and even white Latinos would hate being called white over here to the point where they would speak Spanish loud in public so people can realize they’re Latino
Skullfire56 lol shit bro that’s me
Yo this is amazing I love this series. I aspire to analyze things as deeply as you do in these videos. Please keep up this series.
This is the type of content I wish I found more often here.
I remember downloading every comic strip back in 2008, I think, but it gave me a real glimpse at black identity
hops on youtube
Thestoryteller: black oriented discussions
Me: this nigga spittin
I remember the Hip Hop Doctrine I had a conversation with Meta4 when I was 16 about music and he told me to look out for shady people in the industry and read my contracts. That stuck with me.
Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean whatever it is, is not there.
Honestly, it's refreshing to see Aaron McGruder's understanding of Biracial identity, as a mixed man myself. That quote is pretty impactful
You got Captail Steez?! My guy
Whats up man.
When I first started watching your videos I thought you sounded white, but I corrected my thoughts. As for you listening to rock, the history of rock is a part of black culture. Black people had a heavy influence on rock along with many other genres of music. Black people who say a person is acting white because they listen to other "non- black" genres of music just aren't educated.
the boon docks was really popular when it came out, it was a breathe of fresh air, it captures some of the frustrations of human emotions really well.
Great video man. All this stuff is so heavy and on my mind all the time. Thanks
Haven't watched the boondocks in nearly 6 years. Might rewatch and look closer at it this time.
I really needed this. Thanks
I felt that, because, both my parents are educated and they have never acted "black" so I didn't either, I didn't sound hood, I didn't wanna be a rapper I wasn't into "modern black culture" Everyone thinks I'm white on the phone and I felt so ashamed I faked a hood accent for a year but failed, it wasn't me and I was bad at it....I felt sad and less than a black person which was devastating, I got desperate so I started pretending to hate white people, I (tried) to hang around black people and I failed I only had white friends don't get me wrong I love my friends but I tried to make friends with other black people even if it meant pretending to be someone I'm not....I loved comic books, cartoons, video games, and studying mono and polytheistic religions and I also had a big vocabulary.... Literally every black person made fun of me I was an outcast...as a result for a time I became a black nationalist too and had to wear a afro wig because my hair was permed....but I got sick of being something I wasn't so I just became myself....
I love being black I love my natural kinky hair and I can say yes their was a time in my life when I didn't like my natural hair all that much after my mother had someone relax my hair when I was a child but as I grew older I learned how to do my own hair .
This is a delicate conversation. The fact that when I look at my 23&me I have a constant reminder of rapist colonizers in my lineage is a constant reminder that my name, religion, and facial features were stolen from me.
Seeing people around the globe conform to European standards of beauty saddens me.
Watching African and African American women wear weaves, wigs, and perm their hair to look more “professional” upsets me more than it probably should. Idk, maybe I need to get over myself😞
Deep. This video really made me think, and yeah the thing that Arron McGruder said about everyone being mixed is true, and I found it really interesting that that was explained in such a way
4:34 Huey is kinda like Dib from Invader Zim.
"skateboarding is like the whitest sport"
*looks nervously at hockey*
Celebrate that you can freely play lacrosse. It was made by non-whites, and outside major sporting events. Is dominated by non-whites.
Why do you not have enough views man! You're awesome!!
I have seen this video multiple times but never noticed the it ain't hard to tell instrumental in the background
U know black people created Rock right?
Yes, I'm aware of that. Just like I'm aware that a white man created basketball. It doesn't take away from the point that I'm trying to make about labelling interests with race.
I should been more clear with what I said my bad what I meant was that black people predominantly play basketball and white predominantly listen to rock and I have absolutely no problem with the that idea that u presented but it comes down to the fact that white people listen to rap and rock profit hugely from it and will disrespect black people every chance they get but we don't profit hugely from basketball specific people do but as a community we don't make billions of dollars a year the owners who are all most entirely white do. So I believe that in some sense we do have to take ownership of what we create because if we don't they will continue to break our history and make us believe we created nothing
@l'homme qui médite haha you mad cuz you don't have any culture 😂😂😂🤷🏿♂️
Race in this country is based bot on genetics but on appearance. Police don't know your genetics. For example, Jazmine may have only been 30-45% African because her mom is white and dad is african american. But nonetheless her skin is light brown and hair is nappy and red so she looks at least mixed
Inherently I was exposed what it meant to be in a Mexican Christian household and I thought that was normal but I had no grasp or understanding of what that meant outside my home
My wife in the same way
Grew up away from her mother and dealt with the system witch robbed her of any black culture she would have had originally.
So now our kids
Every color of the rainbow are gonna grapple with their identity
And much like their mother they will probably not be able to be "Black"
Since im not black
And their mother isn't really either
And the struggle is, is it wrong to rob my children of part of their culture
The same way the American school system tried (and succeeded) in beating the Spanish out of me
Never realized until now that my affinity for straight hair over afros might be something engrained in me by my culture's standards.
This was surprisingly measured and insightful.
Thank god you're back
Huey is obviously friends with Jazmine, but he doesn't act like a normal friend towards her, not like he does with Riley even. He tells Jazmine to accept that she's black, and hates her mum for no more than his unjustified paranoia of her being in the Klan. I think that Huey can't accept that Jazmine is as black as she is white, and can't accept that he'd befriend that person, hence why he seemingly goes through phases of flat out not liking her at all. He has a conditional love for her
amazing points man! I always loved this show and too many people didn't "get it"
the oreo in me just shed a tear. thank you
At what point do I have the right to say Huey is taking things too seriously?
When he accuses his childhood peers of being Klansmen because their homes have white sheets.
.
That's when. :)
Love that you use the my wife and kids outro
"It ain't hard to tell" Nas
Great break down. I can relate to so much of this.
I think what this is trying to say is that there is no true way to embrace your heritage. Accept it as part of who you are, but mostly be true to yourself and don’t let race define who you are.
I do feel I should point out that rock music started as a black form of music it's a corruption of blues and gospel when elvis got big he was covering muddy waters songs
Video is just spot on. As a person who is black, I get looked down upon by other blacks because of my taste of style, taste of music, and the way i talk, saying I'm trying to be white. At one point, a classmate in high school who was black said that I'm not being black because I wanted cowgirl boots. They are part of the reason why I had really bad self-esteem and trust issues. When I talk about what i love, I'd be afraid that everyone would judge me and make me a laughing stock.
I mostly had people outside my race that was accepting. They didn't really shun me and just accept me for who I am, even if my taste of things isn't their cup of tea. As time goes by, I learn to accept myself as a black woman who is proud to be herself and know that the way i talk, my interests, and style doesn't define my race.
Most of miree made a video saying mixed people are not black she had some valid points I wanted your take if you ever watch it
Okay so I’m new to your videos, so forgive me if I’m coming off ignorant, but have you ever done a video on the topic of Afro-hair? It’s a big topic for discussion because many other races are getting angry that black people, mainly African Americans, are claiming certain hairstyles as apart of their cultural identity. Maybe you could explain why black hair is such an important element of black identity.
I'll look into it. Thanks for the suggestion.
God I took the Boondocks for granted
I like all the boondocks stuff but I wish they showed more of Jasmine in the show and put in some of her and huey's conversations because I think it would have more of an impact because it would be reaching a larger audience, and shedding light on a problem I and man others have too
Very insightful.
If you are embracing who you are despite being black... Why is that part of being black as opposed to being you? Why do we care about being black or white or Asian or what have you in the first place? To belong? I don't understand the point in that.
Nobody:
Aaron: *You know*
Man your commentary and video is very good.
Rock is really white but there are some outstanding black musicians in different bands.
"Jasmin finding comfort if what she believes in isn't wrong"
Wrong. That'd exactly her problem. She's looking for an easy identity to believe in when in reality she needs none. She is her own person. no matter what her supposed race is.
That's why America is so special
Seeing your profile pic makes me realise I mever saw Huey smile. Also I agree with all that you said.
This video really helped me thanks man
You blew my mind bro
i love finding this video on November 6
It all goes live in just a few hours.
I agree with every sentence I've heard you speak accept for the time when referring to the "Rock" genre of music as "really white" and while I understood the context, I still feel the need to interject and say that we (Black people) are actually the originators of the genre, however, as it stands today we simply do not to participate within it's bounds as often as white people do, yet our contributions are massive and never overlooked (ironically enough). One could say they took it and ran, I would say only after we handed it to them.
Errol De Pass the we, they thing is bullshit and needs to go. That mentality is a HUGE problem.
loveeeee this stuff, just subbed!!