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AARON McGRUDER - "IN THE BOONDOCKS." Essay by Mark Vallen 2001
Aaron McGruder, is a 27 year old African American cartoonist best known for his syndicated strip, The Boondocks. If you're unfamiliar with his work, then the opening line of his official website could serve as an introduction... "Inciting angry Black Children since 1998!" McGruder's episodic cartoon series is about a group of young Black children who also happen to be closely knit friends. Leading the cast of characters is Huey Freeman (a "radical scholar"), and his younger Brother Riley. Since the outbreak of war fever in the United States... McGruder's cartoon strip has run into trouble with censors. Why? Because the artist has dared to stand apart from the flag waving crowd to make a few critical observations concerning America's latest war.
The Boondocks
Newsday, on Long Island, refused to run the strip for a week... The Daily News in New York yanked the strip on October 4th, and has since run it only once. The Dallas Morning News, while not pulling the strip, has moved the artist's work away from the other cartoons. McGruder said the following concerning his artistic response to Sept. 11th. "There was plenty to talk about without making light of the situation, and there was real opportunity to make legitimate criticisms of the government and media. I struggled with it, and I really thought I was going to get canceled from The Daily News. But this is one of those critical moments in history, and I did not want to look back and regret not having said something."
The adventures of Flagee and Ribbon

Aaron McGruder responded to the criticism of his Boondocks strip by suspending it entirely and replacing it with a parody called The Adventures of Flagee and Ribbon. McGruder's explosive critique of blind patriotism caused an uproar with the 250 newspapers that carry his syndicated strip through the Universal Press Syndicate. Dozens of papers complained about the direction of McGruder's work, but to their credit none of the papers have refused to publish the cartoon... yet.
I think Aaron McGruder should be applauded for having the courage to express his opinions. What's the U.S. Bill of Rights for anyway?