I’ve written of the social justice–fueled political savvy and prescience of The Boondocks here before, but today is different. Today, a vulgar and crooked real estate magnate and reality TV star with no political experience who ran a campaign rooted in oligarchy, racism, sexism, transphobia, Islamophobia, xenophobia, climate change denial, and white nationalism was elected the next president of the United States of America. Many thought, after eight years under the leadership of President Barack Obama, that this sort of national about-face was nearly impossible. Those many were wrong.
In the episode “It’s a Black President, Huey Freeman,” Huey—the radicalized 10-year-old political dissident of the Freeman family—expressed his doubts at an Obama presidency’s ability to change the country he knew. He warned, matter-of-factly, that it instead signaled “the end of America.”
Many of us, looking at the electoral picture before us painted so garishly in blood red, may fear that he has finally been proven right—that while we “progressed” under Obama, those wishing to keep this country caught within the clutches of white supremacy, patriarchal power, and nationalistic bias simply bided their time and have finally reached their endgame. Others might be asking a question Huey asked his Granddad, a former civil rights activist, in another episode, “The Hunger Strike,” a question I have repeated here once before:
Huey: Granddad, what do you do when you can’t do nothing, but there’s nothing you can do?
Granddad: You do what you can.
You know what we can do? Fight. Organize. Acknowledge your echo chamber and the influence of your privilege—like being a cis white man from Long Island, in my case. Support groups that work tirelessly for the rights of the underprivileged.
Register the unregistered. Get involved in your party at the local level and work to change it from the inside. At the same time, fight it from the outside.
Do not let them tell you this awful vision of America is inevitable and forever. Do not back down. Keep listening to, respecting, and working with each other. Hold those you love and, with their hands in yours, march.
It’s what Huey Freeman would do.
Thanks for reading The Dot and Line, where we talk about animation of all kinds—and sometimes more. Today, please consider donating to one of these pro-women, pro-immigrant, pro-earth, anti-bigotry organizations. Sometimes, even the smallest gestures provide worlds of support to those most in need of it.
