• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Morgan Freeman Calls Black History Month "Ridiculous"

Page 3 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
i don't think he intended his point to be construed as "ignoring" racism. i think that his point is that as a society, we should mature from it and move past it. and i agree BTW.
 
I'm pretty sure I saw him at Bed Bath and Beyond in Bradenton, FL a few years ago.. It was so funny because I nearly bumped into him while looking at a teapot and I just blurted out, "WOW, you look like Morgan Freeman!"

and he said, "If I was Morgan Freeman, wouldn't I be in Hollywood or something?"

and I said, "I guess so. But, you even sound like him."

and he said, "Thanks.. I guess."

lol..

 
Originally posted by: pontifex
Originally posted by: SaltBoy
Morgan Freeman is one of the actors that I most respect, and it has NOTHING to do with his color of skin. Amen to everything he says, and amen to you, NFS4! 🙂
Click to expand...

he certainly seems to be one of the few actors who has a brain and uses it.
Click to expand...

Best example of an actor who DOESN'T use his brain.... Alec Baldwin. :laugh:
 
Originally posted by: yowolabi
Originally posted by: Phoenix86

You are missing the point. What he's saying is that every time you describe someone as black or white, or whatever, you are using their race to describe them. That, by definition, is racist.

Only black person you read about in history was MLK? Try re-reading the book.
Click to expand...

I got his point and I stated why I disagreed. You haven't addressed my point. Racism is a real thing with real effects. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away. That hasn't worked for any problem ever, and won't work now. A real world problem won't get fixed by a utopian solution.

As for the rest, first you re-read my two paragraphs and then i'll re-read a book.

Edited for nested quotes
Click to expand...


See, Morgan Freeman is saying that by having a single black history month - and separating it from 'white history' - it's just exacerbating the problem. I agree.. there's no point to 'black history month.'

There's NO need to be separating black history from white history.. Why the hell can't Morgan Freeman, in this day and age, just be a man.. and not always specifically a black man?

Getting rid of black history month is NOT ignoring racism... That notion is as ridiculous as calling me racist for saying "The suspect was a black man, about 6' 2", and maybe 200lbs."

... or, you could try to read into my post even further, squeeze it like a sponge, and call me racist because the first example statement I could think of for describing ones' appearance was as a suspect..
 
Originally posted by: yowolabi
Originally posted by: NFS4
Someone give this man another Oscar! 😛

"You're going to relegate my history to a month,?" Freeman asks Wallace in their discussion of black history month. After noting there is no "white history month," he says, "I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history."

The notion of a special month for black history may be hurting rather than helping efforts for racial equality, believes Freeman. When Wallace wonders that without black history month, racism may be harder to stop and asks, "How are we going to get rid of racism?" Freeman retorts, "Stop talking about it!"

Freeman believes the labels "black" and "white" are an obstacle to beating 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?" Freeman asks Wallace.
Click to expand...
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php...rgan_freeman_condems_black_history_mon
Click to expand...


Next we'll totally end murders and terrorism and sexism by not talking about them. Even though you aren't a terrorist or a murder or a sexist and neither am I, if we both agree not to acknowledge that those things exist we can totally defeat them. This goes back to the life lessons we learned in elementary school that when you ignore negative things, they just vanish into thin air.
Click to expand...

yowolabi, that is what I though he meant when I read the quotes online and I also disagreed. However, after watching the segment on TV, I believe what he meant was that we should stop talking about race and not racism. He continued that quote by telling the guy who was interviewing him that he will stop calling him a white guy or a jew and he should also not call Morgan a black guy. He even made reference to the fact that some people talk about having "white/jews/black" friends and thought it was very ridiculous. So I do believe that he was saying that we should stop talking about race in our relations with others and in that manner which tends to make a peron be defined by his race as opposed to just being a mere characteristic of the person
 
Originally posted by: meltdown75
i don't think he intended his point to be construed as "ignoring" racism. i think that his point is that as a society, we should mature from it and move past it. and i agree BTW.
Click to expand...

As a society we should have never separated people by race in the first place. As a society we should move forward to a place where race doesn't matter. All these theoretical things can be pretty much universally agreed on.

But Freeman was asked a real world question of, "How are we going to get rid of racism?" His solution of "not talking about it" is in effect ignoring it. That won't work.
 
But Freeman was asked a real world question of, "How are we going to get rid of racism?" His solution of "not talking about it" is in effect ignoring it. That won't work.
Click to expand...
No. See my post above yours. He meant to stop talking about RACE. Not to stop talking about racism. If the problem does not exist you will not talk about it, will you?
You nicely summarized his point
As a society we should move forward to a place where race doesn't matter.
Click to expand...
 
I look at it as this.

Black man kills a white man = murder
white man kills white man = murder
black man kills black man = murder
white man kills black man = hate crime

See this 'talking about it' helps create racism. If the man was just charged and punished with murder it would of helped keep us from thinking about the color. But when we think about the color we start to think about minorities and it helps us remember racism. Some of the most racist people in the world are minorities. Not racist as in they hate white people, but racist in that they help keep racism alive by talking about it when it really holds no bearing. History should just be history, not white history or black history. We shouldn't have college funds to only help minoritys in the ghetto, we should help all kids in the ghetto. A hate crime should not be a hate crime, it should be a crime. A lot of racism would just disapear if we didn't give it the attention it needs to surivive.

Example: KKK go to Gary, IN.

Waht happens? All the people in the town show up to protest, the media shows up, fights happen, this gets on the TV and the KKK get their message out. Now if they would of all just stayed home then the KKK rally would of been a couple dozen pitiful white men talking to themselves. It would of been like this in the news. "In other news tonight the KKK held a very small uneventful rally at the city hall. Attendance was low showing the KKK might be loosing its members" Or something like that.

The same does go for terrorists. They need fear to work, talking about it gives fear. 'Terror alert levels' help bring fear. If we would just say a group bombed this church, police are looking for the suspects and then let the military go wreck some terroists they would have less power then they have now. Because we talk about it way more then we need too. Because we change or way of living beyond reasonable means. Because we make such a big deal out of everthing we give them more power then they really have. We help bring them new members and grow their org.

Morgan Freeman is the man. He is like the other Freeman we all love from our video games.
 
Originally posted by: yowolabi
Originally posted by: meltdown75
i don't think he intended his point to be construed as "ignoring" racism. i think that his point is that as a society, we should mature from it and move past it. and i agree BTW.
Click to expand...

As a society we should have never separated people by race in the first place. As a society we should move forward to a place where race doesn't matter. All these theoretical things can be pretty much universally agreed on.

But Freeman was asked a real world question of, "How are we going to get rid of racism?" His solution of "not talking about it" is in effect ignoring it. That won't work.
Click to expand...
do you read what you quote?

i'm just giving my opinion of what i think he meant. and of course i'm wrong - even opinions are wrong. this is OT, after all.
 
Originally posted by: brxndxn
Originally posted by: yowolabi

I got his point and I stated why I disagreed. You haven't addressed my point. Racism is a real thing with real effects. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away. That hasn't worked for any problem ever, and won't work now. A real world problem won't get fixed by a utopian solution.

As for the rest, first you re-read my two paragraphs and then i'll re-read a book.

Edited for nested quotes
Click to expand...


See, Morgan Freeman is saying that by having a single black history month - and separating it from 'white history' - it's just exacerbating the problem. I agree.. there's no point to 'black history month.'

There's NO need to be separating black history from white history.. Why the hell can't Morgan Freeman, in this day and age, just be a man.. and not always specifically a black man?

Getting rid of black history month is NOT ignoring racism... That notion is as ridiculous as calling me racist for saying "The suspect was a black man, about 6' 2", and maybe 200lbs."

... or, you could try to read into my post even further, squeeze it like a sponge, and call me racist because the first example statement I could think of for describing ones' appearance was as a suspect..
Click to expand...

Do you believe you're arguing against me? Because in the second paragraph of my original post, I argued for getting rid of Black History month also. I also explained why and under what circumstances that should be done. There are two separate issues being addressed. One is black history month, and another is if we can end racism by not talking about it. You seem to have mixed my positions on them.

As far as your thing about a black racist man squeezing you like a sponge, I sympathize if that happened to you. I have no idea why you think the suspect thing is related to black history month or why anyone would call you racist. I certainly wouldn't.
 
Originally posted by: yowolabi
Originally posted by: Phoenix86

You are missing the point. What he's saying is that every time you describe someone as black or white, or whatever, you are using their race to describe them. That, by definition, is racist.

Only black person you read about in history was MLK? Try re-reading the book.
Click to expand...

I got his point and I stated why I disagreed. You haven't addressed my point. Racism is a real thing with real effects. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away. That hasn't worked for any problem ever, and won't work now. A real world problem won't get fixed by a utopian solution.

As for the rest, first you re-read my two paragraphs and then i'll re-read a book.

Edited for nested quotes
Click to expand...
He's not saying to ignore racism, he's saying when you point out race, you are racist. So ignore race, not ignore racism. He clarifies his "don't talk about it" statement in his next quote. "Freeman believes the labels "black" and "white" are an obstacle to beating racism."

Black history month is racist. Why? Because it's limited to only black people. By definition, that's racist. He's saying you can't fight racism with racism, so don't. That's what you are missing.
 
Originally posted by: Plasdom
yowolabi, that is what I though he meant when I read the quotes online and I also disagreed. However, after watching the segment on TV, I believe what he meant was that we should stop talking about race and not racism. He continued that quote by telling the guy who was interviewing him that he will stop calling him a white guy or a jew and he should also not call Morgan a black guy. He even made reference to the fact that some people talk about having "white/jews/black" friends and thought it was very ridiculous. So I do believe that he was saying that we should stop talking about race in our relations with others and in that manner which tends to make a peron be defined by his race as opposed to just being a mere characteristic of the person
Click to expand...


Any reasonable person can agree that's a goal we should work towards. How can you disagree? People should not be defined by their race/religion etc.

Far too often they still are. We still hear things, like "the first black person to....". What should be a personal achievement is all of a sudden an achievement for the race, when it shouldn't be. But the event happens so rarely that it can't be ignored. When the statistics say that there should have been plenty more black people to accomplish the feat, we have to recognize that this was a special/unique achievement.

We are in a society where race still does matter, and there are very real problems still linked to race. In a society where racial and economic lines still go side by side, where there are problems unique to certain races, what step needs to come first? Is it realistic to say that if i just stop calling you my black or white friend, that all of the problems will go away? I don't think we're at that point where we can stop being proactive in addressing the problems that racism has created, such as the lack of Black representation in the history books.
 
Originally posted by: Phoenix86
Originally posted by: yowolabi
Originally posted by: Phoenix86

You are missing the point. What he's saying is that every time you describe someone as black or white, or whatever, you are using their race to describe them. That, by definition, is racist.

Only black person you read about in history was MLK? Try re-reading the book.
Click to expand...

I got his point and I stated why I disagreed. You haven't addressed my point. Racism is a real thing with real effects. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away. That hasn't worked for any problem ever, and won't work now. A real world problem won't get fixed by a utopian solution.

As for the rest, first you re-read my two paragraphs and then i'll re-read a book.

Edited for nested quotes
Click to expand...
He's not saying to ignore racism, he's saying when you point out race, you are racist. So ignore race, not ignore racism. He clarifies his "don't talk about it" statement in his next quote. "Freeman believes the labels "black" and "white" are an obstacle to beating racism."

Black history month is racist. Why? Because it's limited to only black people. By definition, that's racist. He's saying you can't fight racism with racism, so don't. That's what you are missing.
Click to expand...

Sorry, i'm not trying to be an ass, but i'm just unwilling to type the same things over and over. I stated clearly my position on black history month in my first post and the reason why it was necessary and still is. If the history books don't effectively cover black history, then it does need to be covered. Striking down the month and not dealing with the reason it started doesn't put us in a better place.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top