Posted on 12/18/2005 11:53:14 AM PST by wagglebee
Actor Morgan Freeman has a solution to the problem of racism – "Stop talking about it!"
In a CBS News' 60 Minutes profile of the Oscar-winning actor scheduled to air tonight, Freeman tells Mike Wallace labels like "white" and "black" are an obstacle to defeating racism.
"I am going to stop calling you a white man and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man," he says. "I know you as Mike Wallace. You know me as Morgan Freeman. You wouldn't say, 'Well, I know this white guy named Mike Wallace.' You know what I'm saying?"
The actor also criticizes Black History Month, saying setting aside a special month actually segregates black history from American history. Calling the idea "ridiculous," Freeman notes there's no "white history month."
"You're going to relegate my history to a month?" Freeman asks Wallace. "I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history," he says.
Freeman, who won his first Oscar for his role in "Million Dollar Baby" last year, has starred in numerous films, including "The Shawshank Redemption," "Unforgiven," "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," "The Bonfire of the Vanities," "Glory" and "Driving Miss Daisy."
At his former job, my son was told by a co-worker that he spoke "too white" and used too many "book words"!
Morgan Freeman ping.
OK, and you know how it would end up--the kids would be taught about that racist Christopher Columbus, the racist Founding Fathers, the racist slave owners, the Japanese interment camps...
Believe it or not he's been saying stuff like this for a long time, he just doesn't get much press for saying it. I suspect that Hollyweird is afraid of saying/doing anything because they'll look like racists...
Anywho I've had the honor of meeting him at his restaurant in Clarksville. He seemed a very honest person and a wonderful gentleman with no pretensions. He didn't want to talk about himself or movies but, finding I was from Texas and figuring I knew something about horses, he wanted to talk about that (of which I must say he knew a lot more about than I did, me being only acquainted with nags).
The world would be a better place if there were more people like him.
An American (who happens to be of African ancestry) has strayed off the reservation. Corrective steps will have to be taken by DNC, NAACP, and the reverends Jackson, Sharpton, and Farrakhan.. If subject does not realize the error of his ways he may be subjected to banishment from liberal society per The Clearance Thomas Protocol.
[My respect for Mr. Freeman, on the other hand, has increased 1000%.]
Morgan is now in the same class as Cosby,,,,good for him! I wonder how this will effect his acting career.
"You're going to relegate my history to a month?" Freeman asks Wallace. "I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history," he says."
...
Well there goes any future invites from the race pimps. Guess Morgan and Denzel will have to watch the super bowl game at Bill Cosbys house since they will now be labeled house slaves. Seriously, Jesse and Sharpton don't need white racists, those reverse bigots do a perfect job of keeping the black population down and oppressed as if they were back in the worst poverty stricken parts of Africa.
Way too much common sense. I've a lot of respect for Freeman.
I think he's right on target. I don't see the need to mention someone's race, unless, he/she is going through an investigation. Other than that, why mentioning the race or color.
Hope you and the bride are having a wonderful Christmas.
I agree with much of what Mr. Freeman says, and I agree also with pretty much all of the posts I've seen so far on this subject. But please note that Mr. Freeman is not saying that there should be no study of what black people did in the past--he's saying that the history of black people in America should not be limited to just one month of talking about Sojourner Truth and Martin Luther King Jr. It's part of the fabric of American history. Black history can't just be Victimhood Studies, in a curriculum designed to make black people feel helpless and angry.
As a white woman, I really enjoy reading about black history. I do volunteer work for a foundation that studies black history, and it's interesting. The next thing I want to read about is slavery in New York in the seventeenth century.
Well said Mr. Freeman!
The history of EVERY group of people includes high and low points and also must deal with how the groups, races or nations interact with each other.
First sensible thing this A-hole has uttered in years.
There are a few actors like Freeman I particularly wish were conservative, because some of their roles have been so brilliant--I loved him in "Officer and a Gentleman"--and didn't really like the movie itself! And he played in a Stephen King movie (shawshank redemption) and didn't allow himself to be turned into the "magic negro" that is the stock King character. (I can never understand why King never gets slapped for his racist depictions.)
Obviously smarter than 99% of Hollywood. Guy has a lot of courage fro speaking out. Hollywod liberals are vicious, especially if minority challenges their stereotype...
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