Yeah, why does everyone pick on Buckwheat? All of the kids were supposed to be funny - Spanky, Alfalfa, etc.
And, for the record, the actor who played Buckwheat later served in the U.S. Army and then found work as a film lab technician:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Thomas#Later_life
He died too young, but he lived a good and honorable life, apparently.