The other day I was watching a rerun of one my favorite shows ever “The Boondocks” created by Aaron McGruder. If you don’t know what the “Boondocks” is, it’s about a black family known as the Freemans who move from their urban neighborhood in Chicago and settle into a white suburb known as Woodcrest.

Now I’ve watched this show for years and always watched it just for laughs. But after watching an episode the other day, something just hit me. I realized that characters in the story represent different aspects that we see in the black community. There are many characters in the story that use their personalities to represent a certain group of black people within black culture.

I could probably name all of them on two hands, but I’m going to pick the four main characters of Huey, Riley, Grandad, and Uncle Ruckus.

Huey Freeman is the oldest grandson of Robert Freeman (Grandad) and is Riley’s older brother. Huey is seen to a young black revolutionary activist who feels the need to talk about political issues in America no matter where he is. I felt like he represented the black activists of then and now of the black community because Huey isn’t afraid to express his own personal views to other people.

Riley is a completely different story. Not only is he Huey’s little brother, but he is also the troublesome one in the family. Riley is the tough guy who always wants to start drama and dreams of one day becoming one of the most notorious gangsters that ever lived. Although Riley is one the most likable characters in the show, I feel as though he represents the negative aspect of the black community. I feel he represents the negative stereotype of black people being “thugs” in the community and always wanting to start trouble wherever they go.

The next character who represents an aspect in the black community is Robert Freeman (Grandad). Grandad is a witty sarcastic old man who always wanted to do something better with his life. When he finally has enough money to move out his ghetto neighborhood, he takes his grandsons with him so hopefully they can have a better life as well. But as Grandad tries to settle in this new life in the suburbs, he realizes that it might be more than what he bargained for. This one was tricky but I think Grandad represents the groups of people in the black community who want to make it out of their bad living situation and do something better with their lives.

Now the last person I'd like to discuss is Uncle Ruckus. Before I get into his character I just want to say how Uncle Ruckus is one of best characters in that show hands down. The reason why I think he is so good is because from the things he says in the show you want to hate his guts, but at the same time he brings his own twisted humor to the material that makes him lovable. Uncle Ruckus is an old black man who not only hates his own race, but also thinks that he is white even though he is not. He hates everything about black culture and he believes every single stereotype about them as well. If I was to guess, I would say Uncle Ruckus is like the true definition of an “Uncle Tom”. But the humor he brings to the show makes it hard for you not to like him. I mean you want to hate him for the racist remarks he makes about his own people, but at the same time his twisted sense of humor does nothing but put a smile on your face.

This just shows how much of a genius Aaron McGruder was when writing this show. He was able to not only use his characters portray the good and bad traits of the black community but in a humorous way for people to not fully take offense to it. In my opinion this was one of the best animated shows I have watched in a long time and will be remembered as one of the best shows to come out in the past decade.