Morgan Freeman vs. Black History Month

"I am going to stop calling you a white man and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man."

Nail. Head. Hit.

 

QFT.

Freeman notes there is no "white history month," and says the only way to get rid of racism is to "stop talking about it."

Amen to that!

 

It's about time someone called this out.

 

I agree with him. This confirms on why he is one of my favorite actors.

 

Q. F. T.

 

MAN he such a badass.

hear hear, Morgan!

 

Damn straight. Kudos to this guy, elder statesman of the acting profession.

It's time for us to stop pretending race makes a difference to anyone but the closeminded.

 

Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'.

 

That's actually really interesting because I'm taking a Multi-Cultural Education class in which we're discussing racism. I had before always agreed that if we just stopped making such a big deal about what race everyone was, racism could be eliminated. In the class, we watched a pretty shocking and controversial video that argued that the attitudes of "ignoring race" and "we're all Americans" is just a way for white people ignore the fact that racism is still very prevalent in our society. We're learning the problem is rooted in the fact that people by nature judge based on appearance, and the first thing someone notices is a person's race and, of course, that's when the stereotypes start running through their head. Racism is a problem that is deep-rooted in our society and really shouldn't be ignored. One of the big problems is that all Americans, regardless of race, are held to standards forged by Euro-American culture. People of other cultures are forced to acclimate to those standards or be regarded as outsiders. For example, the business world has been shaped by the Euro-American culture. The typical business office is a subdued place where people where suits, shake hands, etc. That is all Euro-American culture. Euro-American culture is much more subdued than other cultures that are much more boisterous and forthcoming with their emotions. The attire of the business world is completely Euro-American. How successful would a man in corn rows be in the business world? Does everyone in the world shake hands as a greeting? Our society has been set up in a way that makes it easier for a white person to be more successful than a person of another culture.

The problem is that when you say, "Why can't we all be Americans?" what you're really saying is, "Why can't we all be white?" Until we step out of our ignorance, learn about and embrace other cultures, and not enforce our own cultural standards on others, we will never be truly free from racism.

 

QFT+1

 

I wasn't conflicted on this issue until you said this.

 

Espy is too smart for her own good.

 

Except that I made a ton of typos and my edit time ran out. Ahhhh!

 

This has elements of truth in it, certainly for certain people.

But . . . I have to disagree that removing race from the equation is a bad thing. I simply think that all those differences are actually not racial. They are, in fact, cultural.

You prove this point yourself with the usage of the term 'American.' That's it exactly. What differences there are, are cultural.

But I'm mostly speaking from the position of art, which lends itself a bit to some different kinds of thinking . . . what I really mean by 'disregarding race' is recognizing that it is only by crossing those lines that we become truly human.

Yeah, maybe a black man has to not wear cornrows (your own example, not mine) in order to achieve success in the business world. On the flip side, a white man may have to cross the same color line and experience the art of Aretha Franklin to experience a particular kind of genius in music. And maybe they should both do that. And maybe neither of them are 'race traitors.' Maybe they're both just thinking globally.

See what I'm saying?

 

Morgan Freeman is pretty darn cool.

 

I agree with what you said about it being necessary for people to cross the lines, but the difference between an African American man cutting his hair to be successful in the business world and a white man listening to Aretha Franklin is that the white man is doing it by choice, to expand his own horizons, while the African American man is being forced by the standards our society demands from him.

 

It's not like white men have many choices when it comes to hairstyle, either.

 

No, Morgan is right.
You can't fix it until you stop making it an issue, which means it shouldn't be even brought into the equasion.

Take Katrina and New Orleans for instance- Black wasn't the real issue, poverty was. There weren't good plans in place to take care of the poor there (Black, White, Hispanic, Native American) in an emergency situation.

Anyone who had the money (and was smart) got themselves out, or took care of themselves. The poor couldn't (or wouldn't) abandon the only things they had.

 

Oh, I completely agree with you, but read my original post. I said that the "appropriate" hairstyle has been determined by Euro-American standards that everyone must follow. The problem is that it is easier for white people to conform to these standards and, hence, be more successful. I used more examples in my original post.


To say that we should ignore the problem of racism in our society is a slap in the face to any person of a different race who has ever been denied the same opportunities as white people, who has been mistrusted, belittled, or insulted by white people. Racism today does not exist in the violent forms it did in the past, but in the attitudes we have towards eachother and the judgements we make about eachother.

 

Is that much different than it not being appropriate to be barefoot at most work places?

 

Morgan Freeman = God

 

You're making it sound like racism is one sided. And it is definitely not.

 

Smart man.