Sunday night I found out, “America urinated on R. Kelly.” The Sunday before, as an animated version of The Boondocks premiered on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, I learned, “Jesus was black, Ronald Reagan was the devil, and the government is lying about 9/11.”

Could this be why Aaron McGruder has replaced Juan Dixon as my favorite university alumnus? Could he, not the football team, help me rediscover my pride in attending this university? Could such statements be the reasons his comic-strip-turned-cartoon has become my new “must-see” show – because you get the unexpected? Partially. But it’s also because behind the sarcasm is truth. The Boondocks has become a reality check for not just blacks, but whites as well.

The Boondocks centers around the lives of two young black brothers, Huey and Riley Freeman, adjusting to the transition from living in Chicago’s south side to living in the suburbs with their grandfather. Huey, the older of the two, is what I like to call a militant midget – somewhat like Michael from Good Times – while Riley is a hip-hop head.

Since McGruder debuted his comic to the public in The Diamondback in December 1996, his work of art has caused laughs, raised eyebrows, disgusted some folks, made its way to more than 350 newspapers nationwide and now found itself a home on a cable television network. And yet founders of black television networks, famous black politicians and many publications still find the need to be critical of McGruder’s characters and subjects.

Art is politics. McGruder’s characters have been vocal about many dangerous subjects, and their language has wreaked havoc. We may not be used to seeing a strip in the funny pages suggesting Reagan laid the foundation for the terrorist attacks or Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice might have a change of heart toward the war if she had a man – but who’s to say we shouldn’t?

Adult Swim reaches a wide range of viewers, from 20-something blacks to 40-something Jews, and these viewers all have different beliefs about the issues the show discusses.

For example, a Gallup poll showed 72 percent of blacks agreed with rapper Kanye West’s post-Hurricane Katrina accusation that “[President] Bush doesn’t care about black people,” compared to only 26 percent of whites, according to a Sept. 13 article in The Washington Post.

Would a Republican admit Reagan was the devil? Would a Kobe Bryant fan admit he actually did sexually assault a woman back in 2003? Would a race of people admit not every famous black person caught in a legal bind is innocent?

This is why The Boondocks is “must-see” T.V. – because you have a young black man showing you things you don’t want to see. This is why his comic strip is a must-read, even if it is pushed to the editorial page or even suspended from newspapers.

Do McGruder or West speak for every black person in America? No. But I believe they give voice to feelings many share.

Just think of the way Tupac became the voice for a generation or how Dave Chappelle can get a laugh out of anyone, black or white, with sketches about a white family whose last name is Niggar.

Black artists can openly and blatantly express themselves about whites because they have the power. Art has been and will always be a form of power, and blacks have used their art to the best of their ability to open the minds of whites, whether it’s through 21st Century comic strips or antebellum-period jokes that allowed blacks “to openly ridicule and express contempt for white people,” according to Lawrence Levine’s book, Black Culture and Black Consciousness.

Like McGruder’s former professor Melinda Chateauvert said, “You have to remember comedy is born out of anger and the hypocrisy of a political or social situation.” And McGruder does help you remember.

Adina Ferguson is a sophomore letters and sciences major. She can be reached at adf04@netzero.com.