A video essay analysis of The Boondocks Animated Series, its legacy, and primarily its critique of suburban America.Fifteen years after its premiere,

“The Boondocks” animated series stands the test of time as an undeniable classic, and there’s still more to say. So let’s talk about it...There’s a lot of really good content out there about different racial and comedic elements of this beloved show, but relatively not much attention paid to its namesake, the setting of the Boondocks. What’s the significance of taking the family unit of these characters and setting it in suburbia?

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
03:54 - Building Suburbia: Ideals
05:40 - Thesis
09:12 - Colorblind Racism
11:12 - The Safe Space
12:58 - Paranoia & PC Language
17:14 - Imposters
21:52 - Indifference
24:13 - Building Suburbia: Redlines
27:16 - The Pastoral
30:12 - There Goes the Neighborhood
34:52 - The Ghetto is Here
40:18 - Building Suburbia: The Price
41:43 - Hypocrisy of Violence
44:17 - The Heat
50:30 - Lemonade Was a Popular Drink
55:37 - A Moat of Ignorance
01:01:15 - Conclusive Thoughts


References/Resources:

Boondocks - The Making of Season 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcuKh8XRn0U&t=50s

McGruder Interview with Charlie Rose (1999): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBv4GajkXOQ

Racism Without Racists: https://tinyurl.com/2p86sy3b

Watching While Black, Chapter 12 -Graphic Blackness/Anime Noir: https://www.amazon.com/Watching-While-Black-Centering-Television/dp/0813553865

Racial Paranoia: The Unintended Consequences of Political Correctness: https://tinyurl.com/ycy5x3tr

An Interview With Nicole Hannah Jones: https://thepolitic.org/an-interview-with-nikole-hannah-jones-staff-writer-for-the-new-york-times/

Amaud Arbery’s Killers trial: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/29/podcasts/the-daily/ahmaud-arbery-prosecution-conviction.html

Redlining/Segregation
The Myth of De Facto Segregation: https://bppj.berkeley.edu/2018/02/08/the-myth-of-de-facto-segregation/

How Redlining Segregated Philadelphia: https://whyy.org/segments/redlining-segregated-philadelphia/

Mapping the Legacy of Structural Racism in Philadelphia: https://controller.phila.gov/philadelphia-audits/mapping-the-legacy-of-structural-racism-in-philadelphia/

50 years after Fair Housing Act, New York City still struggles with residential segregation:
https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2018/04/23/50-years-after-fair-housing-act-new-york-city-still-struggles-with-residential-segregation-376170

For Black homeowners, a common conundrum with appraisals: https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/for-black-homeowners-a-common-conundrum-with-appraisals/2021/01/20/80fbfb50-543c-11eb-a817-e5e7f8a406d6_story.html

Black Homeowners Face Discrimination in Appraisals: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/realestate/blacks-minorities-appraisals-discrimination.html

Black families pay significantly higher property taxes than white families, new analysis shows: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/02/black-property-tax/

Bank of America's Countrywide To Pay $335 Million, Settling Lending Discrimination Case: https://tinyurl.com/bdf7468x

All Other Things Being Equal - A Paired Testing Study of Mortgage Lending Institutions:
https://www.urban.org/research/publication/all-other-things-being-equal

The Legacy of Levittown: https://helmofthepublicrealm.com/2012/10/15/the-legacy-of-levittown/

“Freeman” Surname: https://selectsurnames.com/freeman/


Podcasts:
This American Life - The Problem We All Live With: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/562/the-problem-we-all-live-with-part-one

Lovecraft Country Radio - Holy Ghost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtr_aURfDb4

United States of Anxiety - Scared in the Suburbs: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/anxiety/episodes/scared-suburbs

United States of Anxiety - Who owns the Deed to the American Dream?: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/anxiety/episodes/united-states-of-anxiety-podcast-episode-2

Code Switch (NPR) - Black Americans And The Racist Architecture Of Homeownership: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2021/05/08/991535564/black-americans-and-the-racist-architecture-of-homeownership

Weekend Edition (NPR) - Levittown: A Racial Battleground In The Suburbs: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/101595089


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