"Praise White God!!" - The Passion of Rev. Ruckus

Sunday night on The Boondocks, the final episode of Season 1 began with Uncle Ruckus dreaming he met former President Ronald Reagan. Reagan told Ruckus that they were standing at the gates to white heaven. God, who Reagan said was white, had a separate heaven for white people; and, loved white people above all others. Reagan then offered Ruckus a place in white heaven and the promise of becoming a white man if he would go around teaching others, especially black people to love white people and hate blackness. So Ruckus awoke from his dream and took off like a good evagelist, preaching on streets and in halls and at revivals. His main message to black people was: "You got to hate yourself, to save yourself." Of course, its the only way to get to white heaven.

Ruckus shows why he was the perfect candidate for Ronald Reagan's proposal in a later conversation with Granddad where he tries to explain his dream/conversion. In some non-sensical digression, Ruckus claims he has a tumor called biggus backus buttitus or some other kind of tumor that his "small nigga brain and big lips can't pronounce." Oh boy!! Uncle Ruckus, why?? Nonetheless, Ruckus is the perfect person to preach self-hatred.

Aside from the fact that I felt like I had been beaten after I'd watched the episode and that Ruckus' actions seemed to lend credence to those of the ilk that Christianity is the white man's religion (a claim with which I totally disagree), "The Passion of Rev. Ruckus" asserted a powerful critique. I must reiterate I had to turn a deaf ear and blind eye to the constant references to "white Jesus" and "white God." But what I found so poignant was Ruckus' message: "You must hate yourself, to save yourself." Whoo! That's deep! It forces viewers to determine for themselves whether or not self-hatred is the path to salvation for black people in America.

You be the judge.