Thursday, March 17, 2011

Racism

An Interview with Morgan Freeman;

Hell yes… the man is right on the button. We are all humans and need to get over these moronic ideas and bigotry.

Interviewer: Black history month you find…

Morgan Freeman: Ridiculous.

Interviewer: Why?

Morgan Freeman: You’re going to relegate my history to a month?

Interviewer: Oh, come on.

Morgan Freeman: What do you do with yours? Which month is white history month?

Interviewer: (pause) Well, I’m Jewish.

Morgan Freeman: Okay. Which month is jewish history month?

Interviewer: There isn’t one.

Morgan Freeman: Oh, oh. Why not? Do you want one?

Interviewer: No.

Morgan Freeman: Right. I don’t either. I don’t want a black history month. Black history is American history.

Interviewer: How are we going to get rid of racism?

Morgan Freeman: Stop talking about it.

http://pfowolf.tumblr.com/post/3885193365/hell-yes-the-man-is-right-on-the-button-we-are The above all comes from the link posted...the link doesn't seem to be working, but?...... I stumbled upon this interview with Morgan Freeman. He's one of my favorite actors of all time. He has a genuineness about him that I like. But, having read this interview, I started to think: Do you suppose it is at all reasonable to say that racism, bigotry of any nature actually, is only encouraged by being talked about? Obviously, the negative talk engenders the bias, but is it the same if the "positive" talk is used? Is it like saying "I do not believe that George is cheating on his wife" and thereby creating the debate that he is? Is it then the same by saying "I believe that gays should be able to marry" then creating the debate? I don't know how to say this...it is a concept that is beyond my words right now. It's almost like speaking something into existence. What are your thoughts?

4 comments:

Sammy B said...

Hello Randy
People very often seem to like a quiet life, the status quo, so that, in my opinion, not talking about contentious issues almost guarantees that nothing will change, for either good or ill. If no-one says 'I believe gays should be able to marry', for instance, then it's never going to happen, because there are too many vested interests who are quite happy to see it not happen, indeed, not even be mentioned, and the same would doubtless apply to any other prejudicial opinion you could name, be it racism, sexism or whatever.
Perhaps an answer might be not to avoid talking about these issues, but to avoid talking about them in a way that seems to make them a special case - not to talk about black history, or Jewish history, but just history, not to talk about gay marriage, but just marriage, with a view to spreading the concept that everyone, black, white, Jewish, Christian, atheist, gay, straight, and all the others on the spectrum of humanity, should be treated equally, and have equal rights and responsibilities.

Love & best wishes
Sammy B

randy said...

Hi Sammy;
I think you hit on what I couldn't figure out how to say. One thing that struck me....have you ever heard someone refer to someone being gay and follow it up with "but there's nothing wrong with that"? I had that happen to me with a black friend - that "there's nothing wrong with having a black friend". Well, I never really heard the 'gay' part of that until I was older, but the 'black' part I remember well. It left me wondering why that was said that way and what was I missing. It wasn't until later, of course, that I understood what was being said and why. Further, until that little statement, I didn't think having a black friend would be anything but ok...just as any other friend. But, I remember that phrase bothering me and not knowing why. I was in first grade..so about 7 yrs old. This isn't coming out very well. Does it make any sense? We were friends all through our school years until 10th grade when he and his family moved to another state.
I hope that made sense. It's difficult for me to get my words and thoughts together on this.
What do you think, Sammy?

Anonymous said...

Hi Randy
i heard a college teacher say that any group that labels itself helps to cause discrimination. as far as i am concerned anyone living in this country is an american period. i don't have black, jewish, gay straight, etc friends, i have FRIENDS period. i do not understand why we have to label people.

Bern

randy said...

Amen, Bern. Amen.
For, as soon as we label someone, we place limits upon them. We dictate who they are and who they can be by the mere expectations that go with that label. Wow, I'm really starting to understand this better. Thanks Bern.
Hugs;
randy