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'''Huey Freeman''' is the main [[protagonist]] and [[Narration|narrator]] of ''[[The Boondocks (comic strip)|The Boondocks]]'' [[print syndication|syndicated]] [[comic strip]] written by [[Aaron McGruder]], as well as the [[The Boondocks (TV series)|animated TV sitcom]] of the same name.<ref name=strip>{{cite news|title= Strip Tease|work= [[The Guardian|Guardian]]|date=December 22, 2005 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2005/dec/22/art.usa|access-date=July 18, 2010 | location=London | first=Gary | last=Younge}}</ref> Politically sapient and borderline militant, Huey, being a self-described [[revolutionary]] [[left-wing]] radical, regularly reflects upon current events as well as the plight of [[African-American]]s as it relates to a greater American society. As presented by his logical and rational personality, Huey's character has often been described as "[[misanthropy|misanthropic]]" and "[[Cynicism (contemporary)|cynical]]". He's named after [[Huey P. Newton]], one of the co-founders and leaders of the [[Black Panther Party]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gocomics.com/boondocks/1999/05/04 |title=The Boondocks - May 04, 1999 strip|last1=McGruder |first1=Aaron |date=4 May 1999 |access-date=19 April 2013}}</ref> He is voiced by [[Regina King]].<ref>{{cite news|title= The Boondocks: Huey's Back|work= [[IGN]] |url= http://uk.tv.ign.com/articles/108/1086436p1.html |access-date=2010-07-26}}</ref> In the original pilot, he was voiced by singer [[Alicia Keys]].
'''Huey R. Freeman'''<ref>{{Cite web |title= |url=http://www.hitlist.com/boondocks/html/huey.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19971007235545/http://www.hitlist.com/boondocks/html/huey.html}}</ref> is the main [[protagonist]] and [[Narration|narrator]] of ''[[The Boondocks (comic strip)|The Boondocks]]'' [[print syndication|syndicated]] [[comic strip]] written by [[Aaron McGruder]], as well as the [[The Boondocks (TV series)|animated TV sitcom]] of the same name.<ref name=strip>{{cite news|title= Strip Tease|work= [[The Guardian|Guardian]]|date=December 22, 2005 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2005/dec/22/art.usa|access-date=July 18, 2010 | location=London | first=Gary | last=Younge}}</ref> Politically sapient and borderline militant, Huey, being a self-described [[revolutionary]] [[left-wing]] radical, regularly reflects upon current events as well as the plight of [[African-American]]s as it relates to a greater American society. As presented by his logical and rational personality, Huey's character has often been described as "[[misanthropy|misanthropic]]" and "[[Cynicism (contemporary)|cynical]]". He's named after [[Huey P. Newton]], one of the co-founders and leaders of the [[Black Panther Party]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gocomics.com/boondocks/1999/05/04 |title=The Boondocks - May 04, 1999 strip|last1=McGruder |first1=Aaron |date=4 May 1999 |access-date=19 April 2013}}</ref> He is voiced by [[Regina King]].<ref>{{cite news|title= The Boondocks: Huey's Back|work= [[IGN]] |url= http://uk.tv.ign.com/articles/108/1086436p1.html |access-date=2010-07-26}}</ref> In the original pilot, he was voiced by singer [[Alicia Keys]].


Huey and his younger brother [[Riley Freeman|Riley]] (also voiced by King) grew up on the South Side of [[Chicago]] and moved with their grandfather [[Robert Jebediah Freeman]] miles away to the peaceful, predominantly white suburb of Woodcrest in [[Maryland]]. It is strongly suggested that the boys' birth parents are deceased.
Huey and his younger brother [[Riley Freeman|Riley]] (also voiced by King) grew up on the South Side of [[Chicago]] and moved with their grandfather [[Robert Jebediah Freeman]] miles away to the peaceful, predominantly white suburb of Woodcrest in [[Maryland]]. It is strongly suggested that the boys' birth parents are deceased.

Revision as of 07:30, 23 February 2024

Huey Freeman
television series.
First appearance"The Garden Party" (2005)
Last appearance"The New Black" (2014)
Created byAaron McGruder
Voiced byAlicia Keys (pilot)
Regina King (series)
In-universe information
SpeciesHuman
GenderMale
RelativesRiley Freeman (brother)
Robert Freeman (grandfather)
Cookie Freeman (great  aunt)
Jericho Freeman (fourth cousin)
NationalityAmerican

Huey R. Freeman

African-Americans as it relates to a greater American society. As presented by his logical and rational personality, Huey's character has often been described as "misanthropic" and "cynical". He's named after Huey P. Newton, one of the co-founders and leaders of the Black Panther Party.[3] He is voiced by Regina King.[4] In the original pilot, he was voiced by singer Alicia Keys
.

Huey and his younger brother

Robert Jebediah Freeman miles away to the peaceful, predominantly white suburb of Woodcrest in Maryland
. It is strongly suggested that the boys' birth parents are deceased.

Personality

Huey is an African-American, 10-year-old boy who recognizes and detests the absurdities and injustices (both obvious and perceived) of the society in which he lives. The charismatic side of his mentality and persona involves having logic, rationalism and intelligence, but his negative side also involves

Khalil Gibran from time to time which shows his interest in poetry too.[2]

Tending to be obstinate in both manner and speech, Huey has demonstrated a depth of understanding that would seem to surpass his young age, such as knowing roughly what is going to happen in the future based on the actions and personalities of the people involved. For example, in "The Fundraiser", Huey accurately predicts what will become of Riley's candy-selling racket, going so far as to give him a bulletproof vest that eventually saves his life. Oratorically gifted, Huey has shown the ability to seize and hold the attention of entire crowds of people when he wants to do so. He uses this gift during individual interactions as well, during which he can gain a desired effect depending on his intention. In "

The Red Ball", he is also shown to understand and speak Mandarin
.

Huey is depicted as owning a large collection of books and other reading materials, as he often reads the newspaper, watches the televised news and otherwise makes a point to keep up with current events. Huey seems to show some fondness for

The Story of Gangstalicious Part 2", he states that he likes Elton John. On at least one occasion, he demonstrated an aptitude for writing in the form of script writing (he wrote a play entitled The Adventures of Black Jesus in "A Huey Freeman Christmas
"). He has also written poignant letters and emails to public figures imploring them to support various political causes. He has started petitions, made and handed out flyers, and created and edited his own newspaper titled The Free Huey World Report. He uses such media to express his own opinions and ideas, though their impact is generally limited given their logical nature and his minimal resources.

Shown to be a highly skilled

hand to hand combat
that far surpasses the expected capabilities of a ten-year-old. Though he has won several fights against Riley, a pair of theater guards, Stinkmeaner on one occasion (though with the help of his grand father and brother), Ming on another occasion, a pair of guards, a Conservative talk-show host in "Return of the King", in the Season 4 episode, "Freedomland," Ed Wuncler Jr. in the same episode, and his former friend Cairo on another occasion, he has been defeated several times (Stinkmeaner, Bushido Brown, Luna, Stinkmeaner's crew, and Uncle Ruckus) His fight with Bushido Brown ended with him knocked out (Bushido Brown left to protect his ward Oprah Winfrey), Luna was a Kumite fighter and a White Lotus expert, and Stinkmeaner was at the time, a supernatural presence. And though Uncle Ruckus beat Huey the first time it is not shown who won the rematch; the beginning of the fight was the end of the episode. He also fought a few of Winston Jerome's men. In "A Date With the Booty Warrior" it was mentioned that he and Riley were in a fight with five other boys, in which their principal was severely injured because he "got in the way", the fate of the other five boys wasn't shown but he and Riley appeared completely uninjured. Huey regularly beats Riley with ease in their fights despite the fact Riley often uses objects such as frying pans, or golf clubs in their fights showing Huey is very disciplined and skilled against armed opponents.

In the Season 1 episode "

The Real
," Huey has several encounters with an undercover government spy, whom he dubs "The White Shadow." At the end of the episode he is left uncertain whether these encounters were real. The man reappears in the Season 3 finale "It's Goin' Down" to warn Huey that government agents actually are on their way to Woodcrest to apprehend him, forcing him into a desperate attempt to flee the city.

Huey seen praying in the season one finale.

Huey does not consider himself to be religious and has mentioned so several times in the comics. Nevertheless, he very passionately insists that

was black and US president Ronald Reagan
is the Devil. As of the third season of the series, the only support he has explicitly given to this theory is that many individuals of African descent lived in the Middle East during the time of Christ, which further broadens his apparent sphere of knowledge.

Huey is shown to admire several historical figures. In "

Khalil Gibran
.

While Huey is always portrayed as being a

domestic terrorist
" throughout various newscasts seen during the third season.

The only deep insight in Huey's spiritual beliefs is when he believed an innocent man on death row, whose release Huey had worked for, was about to be executed ("

The Passion of Reverend Ruckus"). Alone in a field, Huey dropped to his knees and sobbed as he offered up prayers to God; almost simultaneously, a bizarre chain of events led to the man's sentence being postponed or commuted by the governor
. Upon learning of this, Huey says:

Maybe there are forces in the universe we don't understand. But I still believe we make our own miracles.

Being both disillusioned as well as possessing an extremely logical view of the world, Huey is rarely seen smiling in the episodes. He is either in a neutral expression or is seen frowning or shrugging. In season one, Huey was seen smiling when he defeats his brother Riley and in "

The Block is Hot
" when he set up his soap box and when he watched Jazmine speak with Ed Wuncler Sr. In season two, he is seen smiling four times. Twice was in episode "Home Alone" when he nearly cuts Riley and at the end when Granddad returns home after his trip to Costa Rica. The third and fourth are in episode "Ballin'" when Riley finally insults the opposing team's star player enough to make her cry. After scoring multiple baskets, Huey is seen smiling at his brother along with Granddad. He is also seen smiling during the timeout that Tom called to congratulate the team on their playing. Other than four instances, Huey has never been caught smiling. This isn't to say that Huey lacks a softer side, as he will take steps to help and protect those he considers friends or family (ex. Caesar, Tom, Riley, etc.).

It is heavily implied that Huey is a vegetarian. He is rarely seen eating, but is never seen eating meat, and is shown to enjoy veggie burgers. In The Itis, it is revealed that he does not eat pork. His dietary beliefs are shown to be influenced by Elijah Muhammad's How to Eat to Live, which recommends vegetarianism and forbids pork. However, in episodes like "Invasion of the Katrinians" and "Guess Hoe’s Coming to Dinner", Huey is shown eating lobster and fish sticks, which could possibly imply that he's a pescatarian.

Huey is shown to disagree with the popular beliefs of

Jesus Christ probably hates people for celebrating it. He frequently displays agnostic-atheistic leanings. In the comic strip, he claims that Santa Claus is an Illuminati
agent working toward The New World Order.

Relationships

Riley Freeman

Riley is Huey's younger brother, and regularly represents everything Huey loathes and generally disapproves of. Huey is politically minded and critical while Riley remains uninterested, showing great affection for many things including rap, violence, and "bling," that Huey finds to be culturally poisonous. Despite their constant fighting and his disagreement with Riley's beliefs, Huey cares very much for his brother as he usually tries to steer him in the right direction, acts which Riley initially ignores, but results in Riley facing the consequences of his actions later on. They also get into furious battles which Huey always wins, as his disciplined use of martial arts beats Riley's unskilled street fighting style.

Robert Jebediah Freeman

The Story of Thugnificent
," attempts that almost always fall flat. Huey often tries to dissuade Robert from his get rich quick schemes and under handed tendencies without much success.

Jazmine DuBois

Although

Fried Chicken Flu
"). She is also one of the only people who appear to actually listen to Huey, and was the only one that read the manual he provided during the fried chicken epidemic.

Tom DuBois

Tom DuBois, Jazmine's father, represents almost everything Huey is primarily against. Tom, being a strait-laced liberal Democratic assistant district attorney
, is part of the structure that Huey views as inhibitive and self-destructive. He also dislikes Tom because he encourages his daughter to conform to a more European look rather than emphasizing the beauty of her African features, as shown when Tom mentions that he's tried everything to make Jazmine's hair more straight. Despite Huey's disagreements with Tom, the two are shown generally to be on good terms and get along just fine as he often acknowledges Huey's intellect and maturity to the extent that he will often turn to Huey for advice on subjects ranging from help with his marriage, politics, and his career as a prosecutor (with Huey supporting Tom's prosecution of R. Kelly for statutory rape and standing up for him at the end). When he is put in holding for false accusations of murder and finds out that he will be sent to real "butt pounding" jail for the weekend, Tom uses his one phone call to beg Huey to catch the real killer before that day's end.

Ed Wuncler, Sr.

Ed Wuncler serves as a villainous foil for Huey, as Ed Wuncler, Sr. indeed represents everything Huey is against. In spite of this, Wuncler retains a friendly relationship with the Freeman family, despite Huey seeing through his friendly facade as far as the true evil person Wuncler is inside. Huey considers Wuncler's biases to stem from his greed, power and influence rather than actual racism. His name is a pun on Once-ler, a character from Dr. Seuss's book The Lorax, though Wuncler's family name is pronounced the same way, but only spelled differently.

Ed Wuncler III and Gin Rummy

Two of Huey’s other enemies are Ed and Gin, having seen the two young men perform many criminal and immoral actions and does not hesitate to point out the obvious stupidity behind their careless conduct. He also does not care for the way that they help contribute to Riley's delinquent attitude, leading him to often warn his brother to stay away from them and to not ever see them.

Uncle Ruckus

Huey is the only recurring character to consistently show anger towards Uncle Ruckus, as others are usually confused by his beliefs and non-sequitur statements.[5] Ruckus often views himself as a white man and often aspires to be white. This is due to the claim by his mother, stating that he was born with “re-vitiligo” (reverse vitiligo), and was adopted by herself and Ruckus' father, Mister Ruckus. In a later episode of the third season, we meet his mother, father, and two brothers; while his mother continues to strongly insist that he is adopted, his father says otherwise. Mister Ruckus tells Uncle that he is truly black, and that his mother loves white folks so much, she told Uncle he was adopted so that he could live being happy. In the third season's premiere, neither Huey nor Uncle Ruckus vote for Barack Obama to be elected President, but for different reasons: Ruckus's reason is that Obama is black and he wants McCain to win. Huey, on the other hand, aside from the fact he is not old enough to vote, does not like either one; though he voices little actual opinion during the episode, but it is apparent that he thinks that Obama being President isn't going to change anything as many people presume and is just another president. Huey and Ruckus both plan on leaving the country in a plan called "Operation Exodus." Huey claims that while he and Ruckus are by no means allies, the association is convenient - Ruckus has a car, and Huey has gas money. Their association is only meant to extend to the Canada–US border, at which point they will go their separate ways. The plan fails, however, when agents arrest Uncle Ruckus for threatening Obama. Huey, now unable to get a ride since Ruckus is in lockup, is forced to cancel Operation Exodus.

Michael Caesar

During the comic strip's run,

Michael Caesar (known by his surname) was Huey's best friend and classmate. Like Huey, Caesar is very much self-aware of current events and experienced culture shock after leaving a big city like New York
, and moving to the predominantly white suburb of Woodcrest. Caesar shares many of Huey's political views and goal of bettering the world but lacks his serious demeanor, preferring instead to engage in critical mockery rather than extreme activism. It is also suggested they're part of a group. Caesar does not appear in the animated TV series, due to the producers being unable to find the right voice actor for him; see instead Cairo, below.

Cairo

In the

"Wingmen"
), Cairo persistently accused Huey of various abandonment-related slights, gloating that he had replaced Huey with a new, superficially similar, friend. Although Huey tried to mend the rift, Cairo finally ended the friendship with a treacherous headbutt to Huey's face, deeply wounding Huey's feelings and thus making Huey eradicate Cairo from his life; leaving Cairo behind in the past for good.

Awards

In the 2006 Glyph Comics Awards, Huey Freeman was named Best Male Character.

Footnotes

  1. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/19971007235545/http://www.hitlist.com/boondocks/html/huey.html. {{cite web}}: |archive-url= requires |archive-date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ^ a b Younge, Gary (December 22, 2005). "Strip Tease". Guardian. London. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
  3. ^ McGruder, Aaron (4 May 1999). "The Boondocks - May 04, 1999 strip". Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  4. ^ "The Boondocks: Huey's Back". IGN. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
  5. ^ "The Boondocks: Exclusive Character Profile - Uncle Ruckus". IGN. Retrieved 2010-08-09.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Huey_Freeman&oldid=1209719440"