Huey represents the black voice no one listens to and is the core message behind the show; no matter how ridiculous black society seems to him at time, it’s still his culture and he’s going to love it anyway.

Riley represents the brash black youth raised/brainwashed by hip hop culture. In one particular episode not reviewed in your segment, Riley attacks a mall Santa Claus screaming “Pay what you owe” because as a poor kid living in the projects, he didn’t get presents. It’s a supressed anger coming from being poor and not necessarily being black, but how he expressed that anger shows how glamorized violence pervades black youth.

And Grandpa, I don’t really know. Naivety?

When it comes to “nigga” and “nigger,” the only people who have any slight credibility to speak on the words are blacks. Sure, as an Asian listening to it from the sidelines is entertaining but for me to say anything definitive is just self-righteous presumptuousness.

Granted, the episodes you’ve watched weren’t really the strongest of the series, but let it all settle in and look at it beyond a simple glance. The humor is dry and cynical. The storyline’s use of irony and hyperbole is very well done. And it’s much more than a mere comedy. Maybe it’s because it’s a cartoon that people don’t take it seriously or don’t look into it deeply enough.

It’s a black voice, not the black voice. This is what I respect most; that it’s a different angle onto Black society that sheds a different light onto Black society. The more people like McGruder voice their unique viewpoints, the closer we get as a society to understanding how America ticks.

Others such as Bill Cosby (His now infamous speeches) and Spike Lee (Bamboozled) have attempted to point out certain self-destructive aspects within our community, and were met with very mixed results (with many of the youth simply dismissing them as older rich out-of-touch blacks). I think having someone as young, and as well respected by black youths as Aaron MacGruder is essential to attempting to expose some of these flaws within our community.

Meanwhile… let’s talk about the entire show, both excellent episodes and mediocre ones (I hated the Ho episode).

There are no black cartoons on TV. Regardless of whether they are satire or sincere. I’m happy to see a black cartoon, regardless. I wondered, shit, will white people see this cartoon and say, “hey, look, black people are talking about nigga moments, now we can talk about nigga moments”? Will this influence non-blacks to stereotype, will this fuel existing stereotypes. And then I realized something. Maybe. It could. But this show isn’t really for them. This show is from Aaron McGruder to his fans, and to his black fans specifically. More than the comic strip, this is about a black experience. And though I worry about the ripple effect, I have to say, it’s such a relief to watch a show that is not necessarily white-friendly — in that there are very few white characters, and most of them are pretty unlikable. That’s pretty groundbreaking when you get right to it.

How about the liberal use of nigga. Well, I was surprised. But fuck it. If Aaron McGruder wants to say it, more power to him. There’s obviously the old Bill Cosby/Martin Lawrence split on whether or not it’s realistic or not, whether or not its empowering or offensive… we can all argue this till the cows come home. In my own work, after using the word a little in music, I decided I didn’t want to use it. Thomas Boyd, a well known author, uses it like it ain’t no thang, and defends it. I don’t know that we’ll ever get to any agreement on the use of that word at this point in time. It’s very much engrained in hip hop culture.

Basically, though, you need to keep watching it, because y’all saw 2 of the worst episodes made, and had I only seen those three, I’d be inclined to say that the cartoon misses much of the poignancy of the strip, indeed loses the immediacy on account of how animation is produced for TV, and winds up being sort of a weak adaptation. But, after having seen the last few episodes, I can honestly say, I love this show, it’s my favorite show on TV right now. And maybe that’s just because it’s the only show in which the protagonist is a young cat named after Huey P. who puts on a school play called The Adventures of Black Jesus.

Maybe you don’t get mixed race guys to join SWIRL cuz, well, it sounds so “girlie”. As a male who is in touch with his inner maleness, I know that it sounds sort of like a chick scene. And I don’t mean the good kind. If the group had an acronym that spelled something like RAM or THRASH, it would attract a different demographic. It’s just a thought…