A recent controversial depiction of one of the greatest leaders of all time stirred one African American’s perm into a Little Richard fro’ hawk.

The Rev. Al Sharpton wants Cartoon Network to apologize for a recent television airing of "The Boondocks" that shows Martin Luther King Jr. using the n-word. Sharpton wants the network to yank episodes that degrade black historic figures.

“We are totally offended by the continuous use of the n-word in McGruder’s show,” said Sharpton, a civil-rights activist.

Since Aaron McGruder (African American) began his award-winning comic strip, "The Boondocks," he has stopped at nothing to get his point across by using a Malcolm X tactic “by any means necessary.” The strip recently became a weekly animated TV show, hitting airwaves on Nov. 6 of last year on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.

In an episode that aired on Jan. 15, McGruder brought Mr. King back to the people of the United States, in animation that is. King is depicted in the show emerging from a coma, having survived the attack of 1968. Throughout the show King is like a lost puppy in the world he has been absent from for 38 years. Leading a new political movement, the Black Revolution Party, King sets out on a television show much like Bill O’Reilly’s and canvasses door to door like in the olden days.

At the end of the show, King is addressing an audience full of African Americans at his Emergency Action Planning Meeting to preach about his new movement. Hip-hop music blasting, fist of fury being thrown at faces, and alcohol flowing, King tries to get the attention of the rowdy crowd. After failed attempts, King yells, “Will you ignorant n----- please shut the hell up?”

With the crowd attentive, King goes on to tell the group how they are carrying themselves as the n-word suggests - ignorant. He explains that the n-word is the ugliest word in the English language, but after four decades of absence that’s what he sees of his people. King’s frustration runs so deep, that he tells the group he is moving to Canada.

Now would the good Dr. King ever use the n-word? Heck no, but I truly believe that he would be disappointed in the black race that he fought so hard for to earn rights that many don’t even take advantage of. Sharpton is not going to get an apology because McGruder wasn’t using the n-word out of context; he was simply getting his point across - that if you act this certain way, then you are acting like the n-word, IGNORANT.

I felt King’s depiction was not degrading to his character at all; the problem with our African American race is that we like to complain, but rarely take any action. Instead of worrying about a cartoon, we should assemble together like the leaders did with its people in the past to get real issues addressed, such as exploitation of African Americans, loan biases and the high poverty rate in our community. You know? Real problems that desecrate the African American people, not cartoons.