Archie Bunker Was A Great Guy

Archie Bunker, from the classic sitcom All in The Family, was racist, homophobic, Islamophobic and an all around asshole. He's known for sayings like "the coons are coming," referring to a single black family moving into his neighborhood. He was a verbally abusive husband and father. In today's world I wouldn't be the first person to take a swing at Archie Bunker for something he said. Despite that, I love the guy.

Don't get me wrong, Archie is problematic no matter how you want to shake it. He once felt everyone having a gun was the solution to America's gun violence. He went as far as to say airlines should pass out guns when flights start and collect them at the end to prevent hijackings, this is before 9/11. He ranks races as 1. Caucasian, 2. Black, 3a. "The Japs" 3b. "The Chinks" and 4. "The Ricans." There was no black president at the time because god wasn't ready for it, and for a bonus a woman couldn't be president because they speak nonsense. Colored families don't feel things like love and loyalty. Also, England is a "fag country." We could honestly go on for hours about all the problematic things Archie has said or done. I still love the guy.

See, there's a lot of people in America like Archie. They're the way they are because their entire lives they were told they were supposed to be the greatest and have everything handed to them because they were white. In the end, they learned that no matter how hard they worked, life just wasn't fair. These are blue collar guys who had their jobs eliminated. Sometimes military people like Archie were promised a great life when they returned home from war, but it never came. These people are the way they are because they were fed lies about what was supposed to happen, The American Dream. Then one day they look up, and they see black people moving into the neighborhoods that they lived in for decades, but can't afford to leave. They see Jewish people starting businesses in their neighborhood and they feel deceived.

They feel like they were hurt and they need someone to blame. That's where a lot of this hate comes from. You aren't happy with your marriage anymore, so you blame gay people for ruining the sanctity of marriage.You never went back to school because you thought you'd take over your dad's job when he retired, but a woman got the job, so you blame the feminists. That's Archie Bunker, he needs someone to blame because his whole life he was told to believe the great white hype, and no matter how long ago it was, the world was progressing around him. The Jefferson could move into his neighborhood, his niece was dating a black man, his son in law was friends with a gay man. Archie's armchair was his only safe haven.

Don't get me wrong, I don't love Archie because he's supposed to be sympathetic to me. Sometimes I find him sad, because he really believes these things. He doesn't know just how wrong he is when he says the things that he says. That's sad, but it's not why I love him. If that was the case I'd love Alex Jones, but that's not the case.

See, I love Archie because he could admit when he was wrong. He didn't mind his views of the world being challenged. People point to the all the bad stuff he said and did, but they never point out that at the end of every episode, Archie was a little better. He went to a party held by George and Wheezy Jefferson. He called George's mother "mammy," because from what he had seen on TV he thought every black mother was called "mammy." He never did it again. He also learned that black people didn't have just one white friend at parties.

When Archie got a maid he followed her to the local supermarket to convince her to buy foods he liked, not what was healthy. During that time she stayed calm, but people followed them around the store. Some were thinking they were an interracial couple, and others just didn't like a black woman shopping in their neighborhood. At one point they're stopped by one of Archie's friends who thinks he's been paying her to have an affair. He suggests she go look at Aunt Jemima syrup because she's "too tan for my taste." He goes far enough to call Archie out for becoming friends with his black neighbors and telling Archie that he's, "turned into a nigger lover." Archie punches him, leaves the grocery store and never goes back to that store again. This is the same man who didn't want black people moving into his neighborhood.

The KKK attempted to recruit Archie by tricking him and others into attending a meeting. This is a real KKK tactic, they convince people to come to their events, there's entertainment and they serve food and drinks. Then at the end they break out the white supremacy guidebooks and sign-up sheets. Without being prompted, he sits through the whole meeting then he lets them know in his own misguided way, he stands with black people. See, Archie needed a blood transfusion after a surgery, and that blood came from a black person. He jokes that he can sing and dance better, but the point he makes stands. He's not joining the KKK and doesn't like what they do and he'll call a gang of his black brothers to, "bust your honky heinies."

Even if we looked beyond the 4th wall, the show was all satire. Carrol O'Connor who portrayed Archie would often wonder if he had done a good thing portraying Archie. He went so far as to state "All in The Family was art, it was intellectual," because to him it was all satire. But at the same time he recognized "millions of people thought Archie was a happy hero." Even the creator Norman Lear thought giving bigotry a face would force people to see how dumb it was. Sadly there were people who thought he was a hero, but there's always going to be a few like those who think Walter White from Breaking Bad is a hero.

I should hate Archie but when racists in America are trying to bring back cross burnings, police are holding people to the ground and executing them with no repercussions, they double down on their racism when called out and see nothing wrong with it. When that goes on every day, I can love Archie Bunker because Archie was able to change. It was a slow process, but he changed for the better every day and that's just not something we see now. I don't like quoting Charlamange The God, but he once said, "we live in a world where Detroit Red would have never been allowed to turn into Malcolm X because he was too problematic." I get it, Archie is problematic, but everyone is problematic in one way or another. Can we not love Archie for his willingness to grow and change? Shouldn't we all love Archie for that? Maybe even try to be a little like Archie.

You should buy Darrell's Book, watch him on the Blerds Online YouTube Channel or The CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. 

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