Aaron McGruder meets a fan at the book signing after speaking in Fay Spanos Concert Hall.
I learned this the hard way as I tried for a month to get an interview with McGruder. I was told by numerous people not to mention who I was to McGruder. As if I was any more value to McGruder as one of those tasty little treats Bon Appetit so generously used as décor. Except he could eat one of those yummy treats. The picture McGruder paints of the media is by no means false nor is it by any means all true. McGruder did however hide behind his work in justifying his cold stance on the media. “I created Huey to be the voice so I didn’t have too”, McGruder said continuing, “the focus became too much about me and not about the strip”. Someone should have handed McGruder a copy of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or at least asked how we can set up an interview with Huey Freeman or to make it more interesting, Uncle Ruckus.
McGruder’s visit to Stockton however was refreshing and a joy to listen too. McGruder is as much real as the phrase is satire. The whole idea of “real”, being real, keep it real, I am real, became mainstream by the Ali G show. Except Sasha Cohen’s character is not real and neither are his other characters Borat and Bruno who also try to keep it real.
So I guess the point is what does real have anything to do with Aaron McGruder. Well the answer is nothing, except the best adjective to express the perception of Aaron McGruder’s visit to Pacific was that he kept it real. I do not know if Aaron McGruder is a genius but what I saw was charm and openness mixed with cockiness, intelligence, charisma and honest rhetoric. The swagger of McGruder was mesmerizing. In a world full of sugar coated truths, blunt ignorant honesty is truly refreshing and good for the soul.
His brutal honesty was what was most appreciated and respected even if not agreed upon. McGruder did not come to Stockton with an agenda, a written speech or motivational talk. McGruder gave the audience exactly what it needed, his real self. Some audience members came for a political awakening, to see the voice of a revolution, an intellectual betrayal of modern idealism, social injustice and African American issues and what they got was a sense of realism from a man in Hollywood. This is not to say those issues were not touched upon or lost their importance; they however did not carry the same weight. Sadly this may have shocked people to tuning out or turning off, disregarding the importance of McGruder’s true message. Luckily for others in the audience just being in the presence of McGruder was satisfying enough.
“Money,” McGruder said when asked, by Director of Pacific’s career resource center, John Carvana, about the driving force behind his work. Carvana had the pleasure of sitting with McGruder in a comfortable questionanswer type interview.
McGruder could have lied. He could have said many things people in the audience wanted to hear, maybe even expected to hear. After all it is Black History Month and that was part of selling McGruder whose major is Afro studies. I doubt anyone expected to hear that McGruder’s work has a lot to do with his own personal financial freedom. But he was honest about it, just like his honesty of perceiving “that word”. That word cost McGruder’s Boondocks comic strip, which was pulled from many newspapers including the Record.
McGruder’s took on the subject with the outmost humor. “On top everything you gonna take away a niggas speech,” McGruder said sarcastically. He continued, “Its not the word, we pick on the word cause it can’t fight back. Bush stole the election and we pick on Nader”.
Sports Editor Arash-Scott Behnam with Aaron McGruder after his visit to Pacific on Feb. 1, 2007 at Faye Spanos Autitorium.
But when he needed to be serious in defending his use of the word, McGruder spit truth. “I don’t look at the word as being toxic. I look at the white man in the 1800s as being toxic. The word is a distraction. The evil is in the hatred of man”. McGruder continued, “language evolves, like it or not that’s how people talk, the debate over the word is pointless and stupid. The conversation never goes anywhere, lets just agree to disagree”.
McGruder went on to speak on many other topics, he firmly refused to answer questions he did not like and stayed around to take pictures and do book signings.
The start of the show should have been a sign in expecting something not expected. McGruder’s techniqual difficulties prolonged the start, keeping it real with every black friend I have. I still have not met a black man who has ever been on time for anything. And the best scene of the night came straight out of a National Lampoons movie.
It became quite funny if not completely awkward as the whole room started singing the Black National Anthem. With the words passed out on half papers, the room brought forth its best monotone voices praising Black Jesus, I think. I am not sure if anyone in the room new exactly how this anthem was meant to be sung but there were no shortage of take charge voices. It was such a great scene, almost stereotypical.
As I finish this article I cannot help but to think how difficult of an article this has been. Not because I made my own rules and did not follow any guidelines or procedures. Even almost egging a little controversy with clichés and ignorance. Or cause I am a huge Boondocks fan, but simply am confused if I got the right message from Aaron McGruder’s visit to Stockton.
I was expecting to join in on a revolution and instead got a slap of reality from someone I almost look too as a prophet. I fear I would be doing the Boondocks injustice by saying it’s about the cheddar, making money not being so cynical and so politically correct. Maybe even to say that dreaded phrase, “keeping it real is really real” but that would be lying. I guess that is what I got out of Aaron McGruder, confusion about receiving the proper message.
And when I waited in a long straight elementary school line for my moment with Aaron McGruder, I froze. Like a baby, speechless in awe I could not formulate a sentence. I tried to keep it real but the words could not escape the grinding of my teeth. Not because of Aaron McGruder per say but because his work has challenged me to think and question life while laughing at essentially myself and life. To hear McGruder speak of his work as not some sort of world changing idealism but merely a way to get paid makes his work no less or more legit than before. In an English major or philosophy type way all it does is make the Boondocks more real if not ironic. It is this weird perception of irony that makes the Boondocks such an important aspect of culture. McGruder’s work is a gateway in understanding life, a helpful hint. If one can perceive the Boondocks for what it is worth than maybe they can perceive the Iraq war, politics, humanity and our very own every day grind. But with that said who has time to keep it real with BET and MTV coming out with new reality based show.
Views: 1186
Comments (48)
1. 05:05PM 02-08-2007
Blown away
I too have never met a brother on time. This article kicks ass and makes perfect sense. Thank you Pacifican for keeping it real
Guest
2. 06:48PM 02-09-2007
Great Article
Guest
3. 05:17AM 02-11-2007
Boondocks are da shiiiiz
Nice work man, Boondocks kick ass
Guest
4. 01:39PM 02-13-2007
Boondocks are da shiiiiz
Completely inappropraite and the next time you want to display ignorance and maybe spark controversey at least do some research, you sounded racist and derogatory one of the worst articles I have read.
Guest
5. 02:39PM 02-13-2007
Funny
So sad that someone could just come in and rip a great article. To add insult to injury they don't even have the balls to put a name on their comment. I bet they did not even go to the event, if they did they would understand that this is what McGruder was speaking about. They only ignorance was in the last persons mind. Racisem exists cause of derogatory people who put dumb comments on great articles. Best article I have read this year. It is all about the bling bling.
Guest
6. 11:38PM 02-14-2007
Funny
If someone does not understand the ignorance shown in this article , they are obviously just as ignorant.
Guest
7. 11:53PM 02-14-2007
To all those making negative comments
I am the author of the rebuttal article and if you had taken the time to read what I had to say you would see that I had nothing bad to say about Aaron McGruder as a speaker or as a person. Our issue was with the paper allowing ignorant comments to be made about our culture. For the record I was at the event, in fact I introduced Mr. McGruder and I enjoyed his commentary. If anyone else would like to call me racist, a bitch, stupid, dumb or whatever I would appreciate it if you would address me personally rather than trying hiding behind the internet. If you have such strong feelings maybe you should put yourself out there as I have.
Guest
8. 04:42AM 02-15-2007
Found this while checking the logs
http://learner.livejournal.com/50065.html#cutid1
Check it out.
Here is a snippet from the article: Dear Editor,
I’m writing to respond to the article entitled “Boondocks creator rocks Pacific” about Aaron McGruder’s visit to UOP written by Arash-Scott Behnam, the Pacifican’s Sports Editor. I have concerns about how poorly edited the article was. I am more troubled, however, by Mr. Behnam’s, hopefully unintended, expression of racial prejudice.
Guest
9. 11:40AM 02-15-2007
Keeping it real...and civil
We have been reading the comments regarding the article and the BSU response to the article. We appreciate that the discussion is "keeping it real", but remind all interested individuals that academic discourse is civil discourse. It's about the sharing of dissenting positions and perspectives in an effort to seek understanding and to include all voices. We had prepared the following letter for publication in the Pacifican, but because of our late submission, hope that it will be published in the next issue. We include it here because of the invitation to participate in further conversation and hope that all of you will come.
Dear Pacific Community,
The leadership of the Division of Student Life commends the Black Student Union for their thoughtful response to the recent Pacifican article describing the Black History event featuring Aaron McGruder. While we very much appreciate their initiative in responding, we also believe there would be value in extending this dialogue to the broader university community. Pacific is a learning community defined by the strength of its relationships between students, faculty, and staff. The communication regarding the McGruder article reminds us that we are still working to become a community where all members feel welcome and included.
We believe that a critical part of moving towards the goal of creating and maintaining an inclusive community is to engage in dialogue about our perceptions of similarity and difference. We hope that such a conversation might help us to better understand how to provide a Pacific experience that supports the success of all students, faculty, and staff. As a first step in an on-going discussion we, in partnership with the University Diversity Committee, invite the Pacific community to participate in a Town Hall meeting on Thursday, March 8, during the Pacific hour (12:00 PM -1:00 PM) in Grace Covell.
The expected outcomes for this meeting are: (1) to provide a forum for expression of community member perspectives on diversity and inclusion; (2) to create a level of safety and comfort related to participating in this type of dialogue; (3) to begin to determine what we need to do to respond to the diversity commitments put forward in the university’s strategic plan, Pacific Rising 2015; and (4) to assess what progress we have already made in developing an inclusive campus community.
We hope that you might join us with your ideas, suggestions, and perceptions. We look forward to learning from one another and hope that you can join us Thursday, March 8.
Elizabeth Griego, Vice-President for Student Life Joanna Royce-Davis, Dean of Students
Guest
10. 01:46PM 02-15-2007
Comments on the Comments
I’m writing in response to the comments posted regarding the “rebuttal”. First off, I commend the BSU and Ms. Burnett for taking a stand for what they believe in. The rebuttal article was extremely well written and professional, unlike the original article. The original article, as written, contained some offensive and insensitive remarks. What I do not understand is why those commenting felt they had a right to call Ms. Burnett a “biatch”; “dumb biatch”, “uneducated biatch”, etc. To stoop to a level of name calling just because you have an opinion that happens to differ with someone else is extremely immature and truly shows a level of ignorance and immaturity that should not be at the college level. I do not believe that the BSU or Ms. Burnett deserved that treatment. The article written by her was not nearly as offensive as the bashing that she and the BSU have received since the release of the rebuttal. I would hope those that wrote the unkind and ignorant comments would consider writing a public apology to Ms. Burnett and the BSU. Nobody or no organization deserves to be called outside their name.
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