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Morgan Freeman Calls Black History Month "Ridiculous"

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Originally posted by: yowolabi
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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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history books dont cover scottish history either so i demand a scottish history month. or how about a mexican history month. the fact is morgan freeman is right. focusing on differences is part of the problem.
 
Originally posted by: yowolabi
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.
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Like two ships passing in the night...

Black history month is a racism means to end racism and should be ended on *that basis alone*.

If history books are lacking, that should also be taken care of. Just because I'm saying black history month is racist and needs to go away doesn't mean I'm against adding more info to the texts. Got it?

So I brought it up before, and I'll raise the issue again. Show me where black history is lacking in text books (maybe it's lacking, maybe it isn't, you just keep saying it is).

Also, you have to consider what gets included in a history text books. Historical events.

I don't consider the first black person to do XYZ a major historical event, with some exceptions due to what they had to overcome. An example would be the first black man to play baseball. Baseball doesn't even make the history books, so why would the first black guy to play the sport make it? Perhaps there's a compelling story there and it should be in a text book, perhaps not.

edit: removed nested quotes.
 
That was a pretty good Sixty Minutes piece. You really have to admire Freeman-he's made ten zillion movies, yet he is not full of himself at all. He buys toys like his fancy sailboat and plane (he took up flying at 65 and sails solo in the open ocean) but he buys these things to enjoy life, not to impress people.

You have to admire the guy for going back and living in Mississpi when he could have a set of mansions around the world if he wanted.

I previously saw a special on him on E! which went into part of his life that 60 Minutes basically missed. Remember his (white) partner that he owns the blues club with? The partner also grew up down south, but these two guys (and their wives) are truly best friends. Makes you proud of the human race sometime.

I thought his comments about the Confederate flag being part of his state flag were more on point than the black history ones, but he does have an interesting point-the best way to kill racism is to stop talking about it, and ignoring racial distinctions.
 
I don't get this, the man says one good thing and you all praise him like he's God? I completely agree, he is a great guy, but really, if ANY other black man said this, none of you would really care.
 
Originally posted by: archcommus
I don't get this, the man says one good thing and you all praise him like he's God? I completely agree, he is a great guy, but really, if ANY other black man said this, none of you would really care.
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If Denzel said it, I'd applaud him as well 😀
 
Originally posted by: NFS4
Originally posted by: archcommus
I don't get this, the man says one good thing and you all praise him like he's God? I completely agree, he is a great guy, but really, if ANY other black man said this, none of you would really care.
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If Denzel said it, I'd applaud him as well 😀
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Okay, well....any OTHER black guy. 😛

 
Originally posted by: Train
Originally posted by: Stojakapimp
Wasn't this news like 2 weeks ago?
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I posted it in P&N last week, not surprisingly, it got much different replies than this thread is getting.
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yeh, but wasn't this Freeman interview by Mike Wallace just on 60 Minutes last night?
 
Originally posted by: sourceninja
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.
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Very well said....I've been saying this to people for a long time....This is the direction our thinking should be going.
 
Originally posted by: yowolabi
Originally posted by: pontifex
Originally posted by: yowolabi
And black history month is stupid. But why did it come about? All the history books I read as a kid were written totally from a white perspective, and about the only black person they mentioned was Martin Luther King. As a kid reading those history texts, I would assume that Black people either didn't exist or never did anything noteworthy until him, and nothing else afterwards. Black history month came about to battle that perception by highlighting the role and achievements of Black people in American history. Last I checked, the history books are pretty much the same as they've always been. So I welcome the texts being made more inclusive as I'm sure you all do. Black history month will die a natural death when schoolchildren ask, "Why are we learning about these people and things again? We already know about them because we've been learning about them throughout the year."
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lol, he's not saying to end black history month because its dumb. he's saying end black history month because blacks should be represented all the time, not just one month a year.
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First, seeing as how I agreed with that position, what are you pointing out? Second, why "lol"? Neither you nor I said anything funny.
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ROTFLOLWTFBBQ!!!!111!!11!1!1
 
Originally posted by: moshquerade
Originally posted by: Train
Originally posted by: Stojakapimp
Wasn't this news like 2 weeks ago?
Click to expand...
I posted it in P&N last week, not surprisingly, it got much different replies than this thread is getting.
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yeh, but wasn't this Freeman interview by Mike Wallace just on 60 Minutes last night?
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The interview was taped last week, which is when I posted the article about what he said in the interview.

 
Cosby taught us the answer to the age old question - how to get whitey to like and even praise the black man. Have the man denounce his own people. It's easy as that. Most of you were indifferent to Morgan Freeman prior to his comments and now you want him to be the next President. This is awesome.
 
Originally posted by: archcommus
I don't get this, the man says one good thing and you all praise him like he's God? I completely agree, he is a great guy, but really, if ANY other black man said this, none of you would really care.
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But he's an actor, therefore his opinion is more important any any other non-actor/athlete/porn star.
 
Originally posted by: sygyzy
Cosby taught us the answer to the age old question - how to get whitey to like and even praise the black man. Have the man denounce his own people. It's easy as that. Most of you were indifferent to Morgan Freeman prior to his comments and now you want him to be the next President. This is awesome.
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and how do you figure that?
 
Originally posted by: sygyzy
Cosby taught us the answer to the age old question - how to get whitey to like and even praise the black man. Have the man denounce his own people. It's easy as that. Most of you were indifferent to Morgan Freeman prior to his comments and now you want him to be the next President. This is awesome.
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Indifferent? I think that Freeman is one of those actors that just about everyone likes. He always plays likable characters and he seems to have his head on straight.

 
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