Whacking McGruder

Earl Ofari Hutchinson may be a hypocrite. Today he's attacking McGruder for using the "N-word" in the Boondocks cartoon on Adult Swim. Hutchinson once attacked the detractors who were angry at Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante's use of the n-word. Hutchinson claimed Cruz "let slip the word "nigger" instead of 'negro." Earl felt Bustamante was "whacked by political correctness" in the subsequent backlash.

Well, the Lt. Governor probably did just have a slip of the tongue; that happens, especially if one's mouth is accustomed to privately using a word. Personally, although I'm surrounded by honkies and crackers we have never accidently "let slip" such terms, presumably because we don't use them at home.

The animated Boondocks episode last week defined for my 13 y/o granddaughter a phrase I use with her. When behaving in a manner I disapprove of I tell her to "have a little class." Boondocks granddad was saying the same thing to the boys last week and when Riley asked what class was Huey tells him it means you don't act like a nigger. My granddaughter found that hilarious and now will ask "want me to have a little class nana?" A private joke was born.

Granddad exercising in the nude was funny but what disturbed me was the scene of Riley, who is overly fond of weapons, shooting the neighbor's grandson, an Iraq vet wearing a flack jacket, who assures the boy it's okay. The blast blows the vet through the window and onto the lawn.

In 2002, on Bill O'Reilly's waste of air time, Hutchinson chastised Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton for "their silly attack on the movie Barbershop." Does Hutchinson envy the attention Al and Jesse get?

Hutchinson authored "The Assassination of the Black Male Image" which argues the media intentionally puts on the worst possible images of Black men, and I agree. Larry Elder criticized the book as "unfounded, emotional and distorted." Hutchinson, in payback, participated in a letter-writing campaign urging angry blacks to send letters to Elder's radio show sponsors demanding that they withdraw support.

Considering Hutchinson holds a Phd and is described as a scholarly political analyst, he expends a lot of effort in the MSM soap opera of the n-word, as if not using it will make make racism go away.

I often agree with Earl Hutchinson on issues - but he excused the use of nigger for buddy Bustamante, he says blacks who use and defend the term are "n-word apologists", he berated Sharpton and Jackson in their criticism of Barbershop as "going over the top" - a phrase that white conservatives love to hear – and we need to "trim" Black leaders including NAACP, yet all the while he didn't hesitate a minute to use angry blacks for his own negative campaigns. Having no sense of satire, and needing to hear his name in the news on a regular basis, Mr. Hutchinson whacks McGruder, not on animated nudity or violence, but on the n-word. Earl - have a little class.