Boondocks creator speaks on finding a voice

The black community has become complacent and must find its identity if it ever hopes to have a voice in society, said Aaron McGruder, creator of the controversial comic strip “The Boondocks.”

Speaking to a lively crowd of over 600 people in the University Union Ballroom Thursday, McGruder said he created “The Boondocks” to encourage the black community to find its identity and to bring about a discussion on race in America.

“It’s my attempt to tell a story about black America,” said McGruder.

Too many black people in the U.S. today worry about what white people think of them, said McGruder, and that concern is hindering the black community’s progress.

“There’s no reason to be ashamed of being black,” said McGruder.

The black struggle for identity, said McGruder, is personified Jasmine Dubois, a Boondocks character who is confused about her identity and is searching for who she is.

“She is part of who we (the black community) are,” said McGruder to the attentive crowd.

He said that his portrayal of Jasmine is not a slam on mixed-race people, as some have taken it to be; instead, she exemplifies the exploration of what it means to be black, McGruder said. “Jasmine is our confusion as black people.”

There are so many shades of black skin in the U.S., each with its own definition of black, McGruder said, the identity issue becomes even more important.

Jazmine is considered black, McGruder said, not because of his own personal views, but because society has put her in that category because of her skin color. He said the same is true with others of mixed African heritage. He fears that as the mixed population grows in California and the U.S., confusion over the identity of these people will grow.

“There are issues we need to be more familiar with,” said McGruder. He added that the lack of understanding about problems biracial people face each day reveals a lack of discourse between racial and ethnic groups.

But while McGruder feels some issues need more attention, others get too much. The black community, he said, places too much importance on stereotypes. He feels that the white community already has its stereotypes of black people and that it is pointless to be concerned about them.

“I don’t care about stereotypes; I don’t worry about stereotypes,” said McGruder. Instead, he said, the community should focus on itself and find its identity.

In an interview after the presentation, McGruder said that had affirmative action been banned during President George Bush’s term, the black community would have rioted. But since it happened under President Bill Clinton’s watch and the economy was good, McGruder said the black community had less reason to be vocally outraged.

“There’s been an amazing quiet,” said McGruder regarding the banning of affirmative action and the lack of outrage.

But all of the anger directed at the Boondocks comic strip is misguided, McGruder said, because it is satire. In the beginning, he said he tried to explain satire to people who took offense to his comic, but eventually gave up.

“It’s left open for people to mull over.”

While he acknowledged that racial content is an important component of his strip, the primary goal of a comic is to make people laugh. When it is no longer funny, McGruder said he will walk away from it and remember it for what he thought it was.