A Huey Freeman Christmas

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The Boondocks episode
“A Huey Freeman Christmas”
Huey walking away from his teacher, Mr. Uberwitz (voiced by Judge Reinhold)
Original airdate	December 18, 2005
Season no.	1
Episode no.	7
Production no.	109
Director	Seung Eun Kim
Writer(s)	Aaron McGruder
Guest star(s)	Quincy Jones Sam McMurray Judge Reinhold

The Boondocks - Season 1 November 5, 2005 – March 19, 2006
The Garden Party The Trial of R. Kelly Guess Hoe's Coming to Dinner Granddad's Fight A Date With The Health Inspector The Story of Gangstalicious A Huey Freeman Christmas The Real Return of the King The Itis Let's Nab Oprah Riley Wuz Here Wingmen The Block Is Hot The Passion of Reverend Ruckus

	Season 2 →

"A Huey Freeman Christmas" is the seventh episode of the Adult Swim animated television series The Boondocks. It originally aired on December 18, 2005.

[edit] Plot

After spending some time teaching the class about the traditional Kwanzaa Harambee salute, Mr. Uberwitz, Huey's culturally sensitive teacher, approaches Huey in private and offers him the chance to direct the school's Christmas play. Initially skeptical, Huey guardedly agrees after demanding creative control "in writing". Huey decides to seize the opportunity by drafting an entirely new play and crafting it to adhere to his unique vision.

Riley about to attack Santa with a golf club.

Riley, meanwhile, rekindles an old grudge he has against Santa. He attacks him with a chair and a golf club at the local mall before writing a letter threatening more action if Santa continues to refuse to "pay what he owe" — a threat he follows up on in the form of a later assault with airsoft pistols.

By the next day, Huey has his entire class working efficiently in an office-like setting and brings in Quincy Jones to co-produce the play. Huey's classmates, though, decide to take some time out to have fun. Upon discovering this, Huey reacts with extreme rigor, firing all the kids. He decides to hire a casting director to help replace the kids, eventually deciding on such figures as Denzel Washington and Angela Bassett as replacements. He ignores all the protests from the PTA who object to their children not being involved.

Near the premiere, Huey has a meeting with his school's principal regarding some of the contents of his script. Most notably, the Principal insists that Jesus not be portrayed as black, despite the name of Huey's play being "The Adventures of Black Jesus". Stymied and demoralized, Huey abandons the project the night before the play, giving Mr. Uberwitz the decision of whether to alter the play according to the wishes of the administration or to leave it adherent to Huey's original vision. He chooses the latter, a decision that costs him his job, and Huey's play goes on without one word being changed; despite Uberwitz's efforts, Huey nevertheless writes him off as "another irresponsible white man."

The play winds up receiving outstanding praise from the viewing audience and the local newspaper; however, the PTA boycott prevented more than a few people from seeing it. Huey considers the show a success but sees the error in not allowing his fellow classmates perform. Jazmine, who has lost faith in a black Santa imposter, (Uncle Ruckus) is told by Ruckus himself that Santa couldn't come this year because it was too unsafe with Riley's violent antics. Jazmine is content with the lie but Riley exacts his revenge on Ruckus by popping an airsoft bullet in his face.

[edit] Cultural references

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There are several references to A Charlie Brown Christmas. The title of the episode, the music used in the background, the urge for the characters to give their version of the "true" meaning of Christmas, Riley's letter to Santa appearing above his head as he writes, and the sound effects are all direct references to the Peanuts classic, prior to which features Granddad watching the Linus speech from "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Also, Huey is shown to be explaining his version of the history of Christmas to Granddad, but the latter portion of his discourse is muffled much like the teacher's voices of the Peanuts cartoons. Charlie Brown himself is also mentioned in the episode, but the protagonist Huey used the reference negatively, shouting "Do I look like Charlie Brown?!" when the kids were partying instead of practicing the play, alluding to the scene where none of the kids were listening to Charlie Brown during the production of his Christmas play, and decided to have a party instead.

The school Huey attends is named after J. Edgar Hoover who founded the present form of the FBI during his reign as the Director of the FBI COINTELPRO was founded. COINTELPRO was made to directed FBI agents to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize" the activities of dissident movements such as Martin Luther King Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Huey P. Newton's, who Huey Freeman is named after, Black Panthers. COINTELPRO used illegal methods to do so and tried to stop violent gangs such as the Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi Party but also tried to stop civil rights groups such as the Black Panthers and the SCLC. The groups were not targeted for reasons of legality, but rather because they were disruptive.