Aaron McGruder - "White America has been watching us act like fools..."

[GilSho]

It's funny y'all are labeling bro a c00n because I remember him making these comments at the height of Obama-mania before the whole ADOS movement took off.

For a long time now, I have tried to keep my opinions on the election and Barack Obama to myself. I occasionally do speaking engagements, which are not open to the press, and unfortunately some of my comments have been twisted around in a silly manner. The claim that I asserted our new President was not Black is categorically false.

I have seen an endless stream of Black pundits on TV pontificating about the significance of President Obama's election - many of them making reference to the 3/5th's clause in the constitution regarding slaves. The point I was making is that this is not an accurate comparison. Barack is the son of an immigrant, not the descendant of slaves. It's like comparing a half-Japanese man to the oppressed Chinese who built the American railroads. Yes, they are both Asian, but it is not an honest or accurate comparison. We all share the common experiences of being Black in America today - we do not all share a common history. A history that in part makes us who we are - and in some cases (as with the psychological damage that still lingers from slavery) holds us back. These are not, I believe, insignificant distinctions.


I did say I was cautiously pessimistic about Obama's Presidency - but this is simply acknowledging the reality of an American Empire that is out of control and on the verge of collapse. Let us not forget that on the eve of the election, we witnessed a near trillion dollar robbery of the US treasury. That robbery is still taking place. I do not blame President Obama, but I do not believe the financial and corporate interests that own and control this country will fold so easily. I do not question the integrity of the man as much as the power of his office - which I believe has greatly diminished over the years. I believe the Federal Reserve Bank, the Military Industrial Complex, and the massive corporate interests that run this country have more power than our new President. I hope I am wrong.

After 9/11, I witnessed the most of this country become obsessed with squashing dissent and silencing critics. I hope this election does not turn Black America towards this same, fascist mind state; but already I am starting to see it, and it saddens me greatly. I absolutely wish our new President and his family success and safety. But after all I have witnessed in my lifetime, and especially in the last eight years, I am not ready to lay down my skepticism or my outrage for this government. To do so would be unwise and, ironically enough, anti-American.


Aaron McGruder

 

[Rekkapryde]

Reparations from Federal, local, and some private institutions.

100%. Putting all the energy into federal ain't it.

 

[Gritsngravy]

Our 50s and 60s Civil Rights movements, while it did inspire some institutional change, was rewarded with more intense redlining, flooding black neighborhoods with drugs, mass incarceration if our civil rights leaders, all of which funneled into the Crack Era and War On Drugs...

Unless and until we get the same level of support that browns, gays, and other minority groups have gotten, from the white, ruling authority here, the kind of macro change that people speak of here isn't possible...

We simply don't have the population or the resources to effect that degree of change without deep pocketed authority fully and transparently supporting us. So in a hypothetical of us doing exactly what you say, it wouldn't be enough...

I got news for you about the South, too. White people love it down here too, and the social and economic authority in these southern states is still white. Every single one of them. Millions and millions more black people could move to these states and it wouldn't matter if we don't have the partnership from the ruling class...

BLM was a wonderful idea that was undercut by the coalition of various groups, people, and politicians who misled the public on what it was for. It was never going to be much more than what it was without help from the authoritative infrastructure...

Mississippi might very well be the most racist state in The Union, which isn't an easy task as all 50 are engineered and function with institutional racism to black people. Every single one, so to be THE most racist state wouldn't be an easy hump to get over no matter how many black people move there. It's already the blackest state in the country by percentage (37%); how black does it need to get?

Georgia is a mirage...

Where I do agree with you, is that local activism is how you start, and if you can gather and build local movements, this is what eventually leads to larger transformations. It's why I advocate for North Carolina as quite possibly the best state for black people, and Raleigh and Charlotte as two of the best cities for us...

And to add to how you start change is a overall changing of the mentality, I know people gon disregard this but the biggest issue right now is self hate in my opinion, self hate stops everything, cause if you hate yourself than it’s easy to hate the next person especially the next black person


That’s why it seems like it’s no cohesion amongst the community, and before y’all say other groups don’t fukk with each other, black folks more so than everybody else can not afford to hate each other when we are literally in the belly of the beast, we got to fight that mentality to want to get over on the next person and I understand that’s hard cause we been brainwashed with the American mindset but we only survived cause we had each others backs to a degree

 

[UpNext]

It's impossible to have a group of 40,000,000 people and not find some folks acting up. Especially when you're specifically looking for the people who are acting up like the media does. You will always be able to find exactly what you're looking for. The implied standard is an impossible to reach one that will be a forever moving goalpost. Nobody ever even gives objective numbers to reach for in these weird critiques.

 

[UpAndComing]

That comment section is exactly what I thought it would be. Nothing but shyt flinging and insults instead of actual dialogue. These type of discussions are too nuanced to have online fr.

Youre right about the respectability politics stuff.

But he was SPOT ON about the apathy of cacs overriding sympathy or empathy they have. I have said it on here many times but the "hate" that cacs have for us is pretty overstated. The average cac (or any other ethnicity/race) simply does not care about Black people and that apathy is in many ways more harmful than hate.

IMO the Civil Rights movement was 50% to the conclusion of Black people actually "overcoming". Respectability politics isn't "c00n shyt". It's just incomplete, and alot of people unfortunately believe that is the end result of overcoming oppression. The other 50% percent is using that moral code and pristine image to society to embrace Capitalism and gain Black Economic Power. Not just "starting an LLC". But actual Economic Separation where we control the means of our production and create our own labor force outside of the White power structure. Have our own Manufacturing, Banking system, Real Estate Development, Educational system, Agriculture, Grocery Food system, Political representatives, etc etc

Until that happens, all of this is all talk. And we are essentially telling ourselves we are comfortable being 2nd class citizens

 

[yardman]

We should have decorum amongst one another irregardless of whether or not cacs are “watching”. Folks from older generations were afraid of being rambunctious in public due to those behaviors potentially tarnishing their family’s name and perception. Because of slavery we lost our original customs and group dynamics. Group decorum is just another thing on a laundry list of things that we as a group lack. I think the cultural malleability that we have as a racial group is one of our biggest issues. Our cultural framework is always shifting because it’s never been clearly defined for long periods of time. It shifts as easily as it does mainly because we don’t control our realities from top to bottom, we don’t make the rules. Every other group has defined which lines they decide to color in and make their worlds form around that. Gangster culture was able to infiltrate every former colony on the western hemisphere the way it did partly because of a lack of cultural continuity. Other groups are able to bear the brunt of having their identity’s attacked because of strong longstanding cultural foundations.​

 

[Piff Perkins]

Loved the Boondocks but this was a wack ass statement. Vividly reminds me of Cosby's pound cake speech and the ugly vibe of those early 2000s years in terms of black (and political) discourse. Iraq war, liberals getting clowned, "family values" at its peak...and a lot of black "leaders" slowly losing grip on reality/society.

Go look at how black people were dressed during the Civil Rights era, sit ins, marches, etc. Dress shoes, suits, white shirts, dresses, Sunday hats. No white person in the south said "well since you look so presentable I'll let you sit at the white's only counter." There's this level of self hatred and embarrassment that a lot of black people - specifically middle or upper class - have about the race as a collective. This is how black kids become "that black kid" in HS who hangs out with white kids only, loudly makes it clear they don't listen to rap, and goes to Supercuts. It's the genesis of the "black people vs nikkas" mindset. You either grow out of that shyt before you hit college or you're probably stuck in that sunken place forever.

 

[Jaguar93]

making fun of destructive behavior and bs within the community does not = making fun of " black people "

I’m saying even they knew it’s satire people

 

[Amestafuu (Emeritus)]

can this nikka just make season 5 already?

why? Boondocks is no longer satire it's reality

look outside. the show has no purpose anymore....

 

[Formerly Black Trash]

Loved the Boondocks but this was a wack ass statement. Vividly reminds me of Cosby's pound cake speech and the ugly vibe of those early 2000s years in terms of black (and political) discourse. Iraq war, liberals getting clowned, "family values" at its peak...and a lot of black "leaders" slowly losing grip on reality/society.

Go look at how black people were dressed during the Civil Rights era, sit ins, marches, etc. Dress shoes, suits, white shirts, dresses, Sunday hats. No white person in the south said "well since you look so presentable I'll let you sit at the white's only counter." There's this level of self hatred and embarrassment that a lot of black people - specifically middle or upper class - have about the race as a collective. This is how black kids become "that black kid" in HS who hangs out with white kids only, loudly makes it clear they don't listen to rap, and goes to Supercuts. It's the genesis of the "black people vs nikkas" mindset. You either grow out of that shyt before you hit college or you're probably stuck in that sunken place forever.

You mean Yachty?

 

[AceMan]

Aaron Mcgruder is in that specific tier of black where his art is very accurate but it's also extremely apparent that he hates black people. Donald Glover skirts these lines too

To have the amount of awareness it takes to make something like Boondocks, it can definitely drive you off the deep end into apathy at the least

Quoted for emphasis

 

[Ski Mask]

I will say this, we need to change for us, and not so that we will look bad in front of others cause we had a negative image when we was intact too, they'll find a way to hate.

But Aaron did make a point about shyt about to change, at least for the liberal side. The days the intersectionality is coming to an end. nikkas gone to have to start being subtle, cause being blatant with Black iniatives about to stamped out like they did with AA

 

[Lucky_Lefty]

intersectionality

That was a farce to begin with. Was just another way for white folks to sanitize history and present day reality, but this time from a liberal perspective. At least IMO. Look at all the factors that had to happen for “allies” to get out there and protest/march with Black folks in 2020. Try that now. Them same cacs will maybe put up a sign or put on a tee shirt that proclaims their allyship but actually putting feet to pavement like that ONE time? Hell no.

 

[Ski Mask]

That was a farce to begin with. Was just another way for white folks to sanitize history and present day reality, but this time from a liberal perspective. At least IMO. Look at all the factors that had to happen for “allies” to get out there and protest/march with Black folks in 2020. Try that now. Them same cacs will maybe put up a sign or put on a tee shirt that proclaims their allyship but actually putting feet to pavement like that ONE time? Hell no.

Oh I know, I read this a long time ago and knew it was gonna be flipped onto us. At this point I dont trust militancy built from college.

 

[Afro]

Check my extensive post history: I never have. It’s not an “entertainer’s” job to give back or fix the problems in the black community.

Who they marry or have children with is not affecting my pockets whatsoever. The whole “generational wealth” is a misnomer I’ve never subscribed to, because there’s no black economic base to invest in anyway.

It’s these politicians who we collectively keep voting in who continue to neglect our causes and lump us in with other minorities.

That’s why i’m not in a single presidential election thread because it’s the same old “this is a life and death election” mantra being repeated. As I said, i’m completely apathetic now.

It's funny y'all are labeling bro a c00n because I remember him making these comments at the height of Obama-mania before the whole ADOS movement took off.

Dap + Rep

Thank you brehs

All I'm gonna say