'The Boondocks' predicted a 2020 Oprah presidency way back in 2006

They got the date wrong, but everything else is correct.
 By 
Peter Allen Clark
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The Boondocks was ahead of its time in many ways. One of which seems to be in predicting an Oprah Winfrey presidency.

If you missed the cartoon -- which ran for four seasons on mid-2000s Adult Swim and was based off of a comic of the same name -- you missed a gem of societal commentary. You also missed some true precognizance when, in the 2006 episode "Return of the King," Oprah is elected president in 2020.

Obviously, the early part of this week's news has been dominated by Oprah's stirring Golden Globes speech and the ensuing internet call for her to run for president.

It's been difficult to escape from the story. Her best friend Gayle King told CBS' This Morning that she was still on the fence, and President Trump today weighed in with certainty that he'd "beat" her.

While speculation continues to swirl, it's still pretty amazing that not only did The Boondocks foresee the possibility of an Oprah candidacy, but also got the year right. It should be noted that the date is incorrect though, America will vote on its next president on Nov. 10, 2020. The prediction is very similar to the Cassandra-like qualities of The Simpsons.

The "Return of the King" episode isn't just about Oprah winning the electoral college. It actually tells an alternate history in which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. does not die in his 1968 assassination. Rather, he slips into a coma and wakes up in 2000. Trying acclimate to the modern state of things, Dr. King becomes first confused, then frustrated with how African Americans have treated the legacy of civil rights struggle that he hoped to pass on. He gives a fiery tirade, which causes a political shift and, ultimately, leads to Oprah's election.

Cartoons of the past knew wayyyy too much about the present.

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Peter Allen Clark

I have done neat stuff all over these United States from sailing lessons on the Puget Sound to motorcycle maintenance on the backroads of upstate New York. My professional experience extends from newspaper reporting in the mountains of Eastern Oregon to fixing espresso machines throughout Kentucky. I also have kept a cat alive for 10 years.

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