Huey Freeman v. Huey Newton

Huey Freeman is a character from the animated series, The Boondocks. He is a ten-year-old boy who lives with his younger brother, Riley, and his grandfather, Robert "Grandad" Freeman, in the suburbs of Chicago. Huey Freeman is named after Huey Newton, one of the founders of the Black Panther Party. Huey Freeman is named after Newton, but his character has similar attributes to Newton: beliefs, values, and physical traits.

## The Boondocks

The Boondocks was created by Aaron McGruder and was released in 2005. The show released four seasons and fifty-five episodes. The Boondocks was originally a comic strip on Hitlist.com, but it got turned into an animated series that premiered on November 6, 2005, on Adult Swim. The perspective in the show is "...a mixture of cultures, lifestyles, social classes, stereotypes, viewpoints, and racialized identities provides for much of the series' satire, comedy, and conflict." It is also a mix of anime and manga.

It took around four-five years to get the show started. In an interview with McGruder, he said that "...it was just finding the right home." They eventually made a deal with Sony, Fox, and Adult Swim. He mentioned there were some creative-control issues. The strips had to gain enough popularity to be able to say the show had to be done a certain way.

### The Comic Strip

The comics ran from 1996-2006. Due its controversial subjects, most newspapers put his strips in the op-ed sections, did not publish the strip at all, or completely canceled it. The strips were politically left-winged and sometimes "risqué". Whitney Houston, Ronald Reagan, and Larry Elder were all either "attacked" or "mocked" in his strips. Huey is still an angered child with black, radical ideals, and he is accompanied by Michael Caesar, his best friend, who takes "...a humorous approach to issues."

## Huey Freeman

Huey Freeman is often seen watching the news or reading the newspaper to keep up with current events. Compared to his little brother, Riley, Huey is not at all childish. He knows how to speak and understand Mandarin and is a skilled martial artist.

### Beliefs and Values

Freeman is described as a "revolutionary left-winged radical." His facial expressions make him come off as a cynical and depressing person. According to his Wikipedia page, it states that" The charismatic side of his mentality and persona involves having logic, rationalism, and intelligence, but his negative side also involves cynicism, skepticism, and criticism that often touches upon controversial subjects such as politics, religion, the media, businesses and corporations, African-American culture and American society as a whole..." He has shown an interest in revolutionary socialism, Marxism, a possible belief in anarchism, and black nationalism. In many episodes, people will see Freeman giving handouts, writing letters to political figures, and starting petitions to express his beliefs and opinions. He even created his newspaper, called *The Free Huey World Report*. Freeman looks up to political figures like Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali, and Malcolm X. On some occasions, he has quoted Karl Marx, Langston Hughes, and Khalil Gibran. Often on the news, Huey can be described as a "domestic terrorist."

#### Religion

Huey is not known to be religious, but in the episode "The Garden Party," he states, "Excuse me. Everyone, I have a brief announcement to make. Jesus was black, Ronald Regan was the Devil..." However, in the season one finale, he is seen sobbing and praying for a man who was soon to be executed.

## Huey Newton

### Early Life

Huey Newton was born on February 17, 1942, in Monroe, Louisiana. Due to the Monroe's area violence, the Newton family decided to move to Oakland, California. According to his Wikipedia page, it states, "Newton graduated from Oakland Technical High School in 1959, without being able to read..." In the *Revolutionary Suicide*, he wrote, "During those long years in Oakland public schools, I did not have one teacher who taught me anything relevant to my own life or experience." He continued his education at San Francisco Law School and the University of California at Santa Cruz, where he received a bachelor's degree. When he was fourteen years old, he was arrested for gun possession and vandalism.

### The Black Panther Party

#### The Founding of the Black Panthers

When Newton went to Merritt College, he joined the Afro-American Association and helped get the first African-American course for the curriculum. He met Bobby Seale at Merritt, and they soon founded the Black Panther Party in October of 1966. They decided that Seale would be the Chairman, and Newton would be the Minister of Defense.

#### What is it?

The Black Panther Party is an African-American organization that advocated for racial equality, black power, and self-defense for Black communities. Malcolm X's teachings heavily influenced the Party. They had a Ten Point Program to promote their values and ideals. They wanted better education, housing, and jobs for Blacks. Also, the Party would have a breakfast program called Free Breakfast for Children.

#### "Free Huey!"

Newton was arrested for the manslaughter of Officer John Frey in September of 1968. He pled not guilty, and soon the members of the Black Panthers hit the streets for protests. The Peace and Freedom Party joined with the Black Panthers, and on Newton's birthday, both parties protested in Oakland, which appeared on international news. The trial took two years until Newton's charges were overturned.

### Death

Newton was murdered by Tyrone Robinson, a member of the Black Guerilla Family, in 1989. The relationship between the Party and the Family was tense before Newton's death. Robinson's motive was to move up within the Family to start a cocaine franchise. Newton is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland.

## Similarities

As mentioned above, Aaron McGruder named Huey Freeman after Huey Newton, but there are other characteristics that they share. Both of them are left-winged revolutionaries and have the ability to grab the attention of large crowds. Freeman's newspaper, *The Free Huey World Report*, is similar to the Black Panther Party Newspapers because they both talk about current events and express their beliefs and political ideologies. They both looked up to Malcolm X and studied Karl Max's philosophies, and they both have a large afro.

## References

A Character Case Study of "The Boondocks" and Huey Freeman: Is He a Cynic or a Realist?

Huey Freeman Wikipedia

Huey Freeman Quote

Huey Newton Wikipedia

National Archives Huey Newton

Britannica Huey Newton

AV Club Aaron McGruder