Morgan Freeman and Racism

How to rid America of racism

Published on December 19, 2005 By Sturgee In Current Events

I watched part of 60 Minutes this evening, and they had a piece on Morgan Freeman. Among the issues he talked about, race and racism was discussed. In my opinion, Mr. Freeman has a GREAT perspective on race. You can check out the whole story here. Mr. Freeman recognizes that the way to get rid of racism is to ignore race.

I was perusing a local college class schedule, thinking about going back for some continuing education. I found a class labeled "African-American Literature". Why the hell do we have a class about African-American literature? I know, the argument is that great works of literature by African-American authors are not presented in traditional American Literature courses. Okay, fine. Then push to add the curriculum into the course. The answer isn't to create a new course that addresses only African-American Literature. I strongly think that this trend of "honoring" and "recognizing" minority achievements by separating them only increases the racial divide in this country. Why do I have to take a separate class on African American Lit? Make the curriculum include great and influential works by a number of Americans, and you have a great class. Include African Americans, Asian Americans, Purple Americans - I don't give a crap, but make it AMERICAN LITERATURE. It should be color/race/ethnic-blind.

This country needs to move away from classifying things based on race, and we will start to eradicate racism.

Comments (Page 2)

TARSIER

on Dec 19, 2005

Ignore race? That is idiotic. Just plain dumb. Thats like ignoring the fact that 2+2=4, it is not possible, and would not solve anything. It would most likely make matters worse. The only way society progresses at all is a slow and painful process of learning from its mistakes, along with a few catalystic personaliies. Why not just create a 1984 society, Big Brother and all? Let us ignore flavor, identity, passion, and purpose altogether. That sounds like a real great idea. People who share ideas like that of Morgan Freeman try to make a philosophical imprint on the world without ever going through the ramifications of the idea. They hope to make others believe that they are "deep thinkers" and are intelligent instead of the shallow personalities that they portray. Do not get me wrong, I have enjoyed some films that included Freeman (others I have not cared for), and I definitely do not have any right to judge him based on his acting, for I am no film critic, but some people were created with a few wonderful talents that make them stand out. Stepping out of their range of talents, however, is not a very intelligent move.

QED

Jay

Dr Guy

on Dec 19, 2005

And what does "their own people" mean? Why are people who happen to have the same skin colour an "own people"?

I think it is more a culture thing, than a race thing. Hispanic is not really a race. It is a culture tho.

Leauki

on Dec 19, 2005

Ignore race? That is idiotic. Just plain dumb.

Why? What's the relevance of race?

garsgolfer

on Dec 19, 2005

What's the relevance of race?

Every race has a differing culture in tow.

Dr Guy

on Dec 19, 2005

What's the relevance of race?

Every race has a differing culture in tow.

No, The culture of the french is not that of the germans. Culture transcends race. It is the real root of the issue. Blacks born in Australia have no more in common with those born in America than do french and Germans. They share a skin color, not a culture.

garsgolfer

on Dec 19, 2005

Culture transcends race

I understand your reasoning for separating culture from race . But for discussion purposes we can't separate the two. Skin can't change regardless of color. We're dealing with the cultural perspective that lies underneath, which creates the relevance of ones race and might or might not cause racism. To eliminate racial issues, cultures can change behavior, but color can't at all.

TARSIER

on Dec 19, 2005

You must be under the weather Dr. Guy, or I would never have expected an answer like this. What is race? Notice he did not say melanism, but racism. French are not of the same race as Germans, as Amazonian Indians are not the same as Plains Indians. Aborignals are not of the same race as Nigerians. Color does not equal race, and I believe you have those confused. Also notice that the whole topic was not worldwide racism, but 'How to rid AMERICA of racism', so places in Europe and Australia obviously don't apply.

Leauki

on Dec 20, 2005

I understand your reasoning for separating culture from race . But for discussion purposes we can't separate the two.

That statement is an oxymoron.

Dr Guy

on Dec 20, 2005

Nah! I am feeling fine. But I dont think that the Germans and French are different races, just different cultures. I will agree that there are differences in what the government calls races, i.e. Amazon Indians versus Apaches. But the only difference between French and germans are a culture. Their parents are of the same race.

Sturgee

on Dec 20, 2005

I tend to agree with you Dr. Guy. I'm not an anthropological expert, but I would consider race to be based upon physical characteristics (i.e. skin color, hair type, facial structure, etc), and ethnicity to be more along the lines of what TARSIER is thinking of. French and Germans have different ethnicity, based upon their cultural and geographic backgrounds, but racially they would be the same in my mind...

I agree that there are drastic differences in cultures around the world, and even within many countries that have had significant immigrant populations. However, I don't think we should amplify racial separation by focusing on it. When we have Black History Month, we separate the achievements of Blacks from the achievements of others. Why? Again, I can understand the argument that achievements of individuals from minority groups have been overlooked in the past, because of the fact that they were a minority. I still believe that the solution to this is to create inclusive recognition, adding recognition of these achievements in with recognition of similar achievements made by any other person of any other race. The solution is not to create special recognition for the minorities. I really believe that it only creates increased division and separation, as opposed to truly showing the equality of achievements of all people.

TARSIER

on Dec 20, 2005

That statement is an oxymoron.

How so? OK, I will follow your rules of discussion:

You are dumb(>>>>>>).

Their parents are of the same race.

OK, in my mind you are digging yourself an even larger hole. We are all from the same parent, but each "race" that we refer to has evolved in it's environment. I am, in fact, your very distantly related cousin or something. The French especially pride themselves for their "race". As I have once heard, "The French are a proud and curious people, looking at the rest of the world in pity for one simple reason: they are not French." If you ask a Northern Italian if he is of the same heritage as a Southern Italian, and he might respond ( I am not sure if there is the same divisions now than there used to be) "I am no brother to a Black Italian."

Once again, we cannot take a sample from a place outside the US to use as evidence, since the US is a very unique place, a melting pot of races. Therefore, I guess I was WRONG in the sense that we are all of the same race, because we do have have the same first parents.

Tell me if I have diverged from my previous thoughts.

TAR

Dr Guy

on Dec 20, 2005

French especially pride themselves for their "race". As I have once heard,

Uh, since I am french, I can refute this first hand. No WE dont. But I am not digging any hole. I am stating my opinion. And it is based upon observation and known relevant data. I could consider myself a distinct race and declare prejudice. That does not make it so.

You can declare anything you want, but again it does not make it so. Sorry, I have to disagre with you.

Nitro Cruiser

on Dec 20, 2005

The term African-American, or "anything"-American for that matter has alway anoyed me. My feeling is that if you were not born there (or never even visited the place) consider yourself an American, or better yet a North American. I understand our neigbors to the south resent us using the term "Americans" exclusively to mean people of the USA. From what I see on the Discovery Channel all humans came from Africa, so we can all claim that title if we are up for a lable.

Patriots

on Dec 20, 2005

I agree, but you should also add Race, Creed, Sexual Orientation, ethnic background....all of the above

Racing

on Dec 21, 2005

I thought Morgan Freeman had an opinion about racing...guess he's not a NASCAR fan

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