Jazmine, and her parents Tom and Sarah DuBois are a really interesting part of McGruder's world and we could sit here for hours just breaking each of these characters down. Jazmine is bi-racial and when she's not busy praising Santa Claus (she thinks he's Jesus) she spends most of her time feeling "mixed-up," and defending herself from Huey's dry (yet hysterical) remarks about her identity crises. It's a little hard to tell where McGruder stands on multiraciality in the black community. While it may seem like everyone is always telling Jazmine to just "get over it" and come to the "black side" already, McGruder does treat Jazmine with uncharacteristic care and even empathy compared to many of the other characters, complicating her story while still relentlessly mocking her in a big brother kind of way, via Huey.
No matter where McGruder and his hosts of lovers and haters might stand, Jazmine and her role in the Boondocks world are definitely worth taking a closer look at....
I agree. The thing I really like about the comic strips is that it tackled the issue of Jazmine's biracial identity, and how frustrating it is for her while she's grown up. The early comics never lightened up on this issue, either. It allowed us to not only see the world through Huey and Riley's eyes, but also Jazmine's and that's what made it special. This is why the comic, in many ways, is better than the TV series. Though, I love the TV adaption, I always note how they never took the time to talk about Jazmine's struggle with her identity as they did in the comics. Not only did they miss an opportunity to bring Caesar and Hiro onto the shows, but they missed an opportunity to talk about Jazmine's issues. All they did was focus on her childlike innocence, but not anything that would be a self-esteem issue that would allow even biracial kids who watch the Boondocks to fully enjoy the show and identify with the character. I think, had season 4 had McGruder still in charge, they would have gotten to that issue. It would have been great!
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