Thank You for Not Snitching

Infobox Boondocks Episode
Title = Thank You for Not Snitching


Caption = Mrs. Van Heusen, head of the Woodcrest Neighborhood Watch
Airdate = October 22, 2007
Season no. = 2
Episode no. = 18
Production no. = 203
Writer = Aaron McGruder
Director = Seung Eun Kim
Guests = Samuel L. Jackson
Charlie Murphy
Mos Def
Bill Duke
Marion Ross
Episode list = Infobox Boondocks Season 2

"Thank You for Not Snitching" is the third episode of the second season of the Adult Swim animated television series "The Boondocks" and the eighteenth episode overall. It originally aired on October 22, 2007.

Plot

The episode opens with Ed Wuncler III and Gin Rummy driving through Woodcrest late at night, dressed in dark clothes and wearing bulletproof vests. Rummy derides Ed for talking on his Bluetooth headset, commenting on how it makes people look like they're talking to themselves. Which, in turn makes them look crazy. They arrive at a house, break in, and begin to rob the place.

The next morning, the police are questioning the neighborhood. Granddad curtly refuses to talk to the police, while Huey explains that black people as a whole are not disposed to "snitching" because the police usually don't give enough reason to do so. Huey even explains the Stop Snitching campaign pervading rap culture, which is ironic, as Huey points out, because rappers often get in trouble by "snitching on themselves."

The Woodcrest Neighborhood Watch convenes and, due to Uncle Ruckus's persistence, zero in on the Freemans for not cooperating with the police like the rest of them. The head of the Neighborhood Watch, an elderly woman named Mrs. Van Hausen, goes with Uncle Ruckus to try to get Granddad to change his mind and talk to the police. Granddad, again, curtly refuses, as Riley rides by on his brand new bike and spouts the "Stop Snitching" catchphrase.That night, Ed and Rummy are out on another burglary. As they approach the house, they suddenly come under fire. Mrs. Van Hausen, who had been staking out the Freeman house, fires a lever action rifle at them. Ed and Rummy both panic and flee, taking cover in the Freeman's garage where Riley is adjusting the new rims on his bike. Ed and Rummy steal Dorothy, Granddad's car despite Riley's objections. When the police come to investigate, Riley refuses to tell them or Granddad who did it. This goes on until the police threaten to arrest both Granddad and Riley on Conspiracy charges if they do not talk by the next morning. At this point, Huey tries to convince Riley that he is not snitching doesn't apply when the protection of one's family is at stake. His plea falls on deaf ears as Riley steadfastly refuses to snitch.

That night, Ed and Rummy are on the prowl yet again. Entering another house, Ed is once again distracted by an incoming call as he steps into the middle of the foyer. Rummy notices a Wuncler Burglar Alarm system. Suddenly, Granddad appears from the darkness and shoots Ed in the chest with a shotgun. As in "The Garden Party," the bulletproof vest saves Ed from the lethal buckshot. When Granddad points the gun at him, Rummy wisely surrenders.

That morning, Ed is recuperating on the Freemans' couch as Rummy explains the situation: the two of them were raiding houses to get people to buy more of Wuncler Enterprises' Burglar Alarm Systems. Ironically, Granddad had one of the systems and it failed to go off when the duo entered.

Granddad appears to laugh the whole thing off and walks Ed and Rummy to the front door. As they exit, they are surprised to see the entire neighborhood watch, and two police officers waiting to take them into custody. Granddad cheerfully tells everyone present that Ed and Gin did it and slams the door. As usual, they are not arrested.

The next morning, Riley goes to the garage to find his prized bike missing. As he runs out to the street to look for it, he is nearly run over by Ed and Rummy, both of whom are joyriding on his bike. Granddad, watching the whole thing, smugly asks Riley whether someone stole his bike.

As the two burglars ride off, Rummy laughingly thanks Riley for not snitching, after which Ed curtly adds, "You stupid motherfucka!" Riley fights back tears.

Cultural references

* When gin is talking to end about the bluetooth head sets he said he looks like he's talking to himself "and there a name for people like that they'er called the homeless" which is similar to a line from Pulp Fiction.
* The title is obviously a play on the 'Thank You for Not Smoking' dictum issued in certain public areas.
* Whenever Uncle Ruckus appears, Jabba the Hutt's Theme can be heard playing in the background.
* The interrogation scene with Grandad is lifted from Menace II Society, complete with Bill Duke voicing the detective. Then, in the middle of the interrogation, Duke says to Grandad, "You know you done fucked up right?", making an obvious reference to the movie.
* When they are under fire, Ed frantically shouts, "THEY SHOOTIN! THEY SHOOTIN!!" A reference to I'm Gonna Get You Sucka. (In a scene where Jack Spade, also a veteran, shows a complete lack of bravery under fire).
* Mrs. Van Hausen uses the phrase while holding her rifle, "From my cold, dead hands!". This the phrase used by NRA leader Charlton Heston.
* Gangstalicious' appearance on TRL rapping and bragging about his assault on Johnny Guinness, only to be arrested shortly after by the police, appears to be a reference to a 1993 episode of Yo! MTV Raps. Tupac Shakur, making an appearance to promote his film Poetic Justice, boasted on camera about assaulting the Hughes Brothers (directors of Menace II Society). At the time, the crime was unsolved, as there were no known witnesses to the assault; police arrested Shakur and obtained a VHS of the interview, which was used at trial as the sole piece of evidence against him. The jury convicted Shakur based on his own statements.
*The instrumental that plays out of the car when Grandad drives away from the neighborhood watch is the instrumental to a song by rapper Sean Price called "Da God."
* The instrumental that plays in the background during Gangstalicious's rap on TRL is similar to "Rapp Snitch Knishes" by MF Doom & Mr. Fantastic; a song, fittingly for this episode, about rappers snitching on themselves in their songs.
* Robert states that the price of bullets are going up; this is a reference to Chris Rock's stand up HBO special Bigger and Blacker.
* The name of the security alarm system, Wuncler, is pronounced like the Dr. Seuss character, The Once-ler, a greedy entrepreneur who despoils the verdant fields of trees and pollutes the environment. Ed Wuncler, Sr. acts very much like The Once-ler in the episode The Itis .
* When Robert hears the garage door bust, he shouts "Bin Laden ain't mad at me is he??", referring to the 9/11 attacks.