Many, if not most, nternet searches for 'buckwheat" are done by people who aren't looking for the food product, crop, or source of pillow filling hulls. Very common searches are about the character Buckwheat from the vintage comedy shorts featuring "The Little Rascals," and/or the version of Buckwheat played by Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live.
I've put together a page about the child actor who played Buckwheat on "The Little Rascals," but today's post is about why the character continues to trouble anyone with any kind of cultural sensitivity.
For me, it's about the hair.
I bought these bargain DVDs because the illustrations tell the story. We're supposed to think that both Buckwheat and Alfalfa have equally funny hair. Alfalfa's hair is funny because he parts it in the middle, and there's a stalk of hay-like hair sticking up at the back. But Buckwheat's hair is supposed to be funny because the stereotype of African-American people is that they are afraid of ghosts, etc. and that's why Buckwheat's hair stands comically on end. Not the same kind of joke, right?
Some days it's not very comfortable when people ask what I do and I list blogging about Buckwheat and their minds immediately go to the character in "The Little Rascals." But whatcha gonna do?
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