(ThyBlackMan.com) About two and a half years ago, a Facebook friend of mine alerted me that a Black scribe named Aaron McGruder (Boondocks/Black Jesus) had filched a story that I published. Initially, I had my doubts and inhibitions. As a writer, it is my belief that plagiarism is the most egregious charge to lodge against a fellow wordsmith. I decided to thoroughly investigate the alleged literary heist, and, soon thereafter, I, too, was convinced that an artistic pirate had indeed bootlegged my character. And, it was also refreshing to learn, according to an interview between Mr. McGruder and vice.com, that Aaron McGruder denied paternity to the brainchild. He had said a friend of his, Robert Wise, gifted him the story.
It was then that I relaxed. I retained an attorney named Dr. Dimitrios Kourouklis, Ph.D to reach out to McGruder’s camp. I began to rest assured that Mr. McGruder couldn’t wait to get to the bottom of this travesty. Heads are gonna roll. There are TOO many probative similarities; there are TOO many uncanny coincidences; this is TOO close for any artist’s comfort. I soon became confident that if anybody, Mr. McGruder, was not about to engage in a petty game of Musical Manuscripts or Hot Potato or even He said-She said with my story.
I had never been so wrong in my life. This Nig-gro, Aaron McGruder, retained a clan of high profiled white legal gunslingers to crucify my concerns. Never in my life have I viewed a document with so many names grouped together in a single header. And, they call themselves: SUPER ATTORNEYS.
I was immediately taken aback. As an African-American artist, how could this brother remain quiet, justify and/or defend a story that he, admittedly, didn’t create? Here am I, reluctant to stain his career; and, he can give a Goddamn about mine. And, since the story was about Jesus, the attorneys reminded me of the Pharisees.
The year was 2016. History was repeating itself. 40 years ago, the best-selling African American author, Alex Haley, published Roots. He was subsequently charged and pled guilty to plagiarism. His deliberate distortion of history did nothing to help the lost children of Black America who have been wandering around aimlessly for the last 40 years, symbolic to the lost children of Israel.
40 years later, same story different writer. Another NAACP award winning scribe caught with his hand in the next man’s Book-ie jar. The only difference is McGruder got it from the Blackman and sold it to the white man. Alex stole it from a white man (Hal Courlander) and sold it to the Blackman. I guess the blood that drips from the white swords in Hollywood which signs the checks are much more powerful than the blood that is stolen from the Black pens that shapes and defines African-American futures.
Staff Writer; Saint Solomon
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