Morgan Freeman's answer to Racism: Agree or Disagree?

I agree with stopping Black History month and integrating it into American History.

It's Morgan Freeman, how can you disagree with such a legend?

Agreed.

Agree.

He's both right and wrong. He's correct in that Black American history shouldn't be considered an entirely separate entity and instead is something that should be considered an integral part of American history as a whole, but his idea that we should completely ignore things like white, black, etc. isn't going to work and shouldn't be something that is encouraged. People come from different cultural backgrounds, customs, etc. and that's what makes people unique. Racial tolerance should not have to come at the expense of this celebration of our unique cultures, but instead, people should be able to tolerate cultures and customs that are not the same as their own and know behind all of it, we are the same.

beautiful.

I agree, but that won't stop the overflow of threads regarding topics about racism from popping up on CV that solve absolutely nothing in my honest opinion.

I was hoping it would lol

I wish it would too in all honesty.

@foolsgold:

The sentiment of her idea is good, but there are problems with her approach. Like I mentioned in my post above, things like our race, cultures, and even sexual orientation make us unique. One of America's most celebrated and vaunted traits is the melting pot quality of the country having a multifarious amount of cultures, religions, etc. People shouldn't have to ignore those things in order to achieve racial tolerance. People should be able to tolerate things that are different from them.

I dislike when I see people wearing shirts saying " Proud to be Irish" or I'm black and i'm proud". What the hell are you proud of? You had no choice in your nationality/race. The accomplishments of a race/nationality are not your accomplishments. No race/nationality is superior in any way. No need to be "proud" of anything

The historical accomplishments which were geared for equality/more rights were so that future generations could have more rights. It's natural to feel ''proud'' of your race. Race may be a social construct, but it's embedded in our society.

@perethorn: Thanks :)

@ryagan: I can agree with that mate.

Sure.

Feeling proud of your race is embedded into our society but it is not natural. Being proud of your race is a learned behavior just as racism is a learned behavior. Any time a person feels "proud" of something, it means they did something above the norm. or accomplished something that others could not. Reaching a goal is something to be proud of. YOU actually did something to accomplish that goal. Being born irish, black, white or asian is nothing to feel proud of. Our race/nationality is not determined by us. Someone should not feel "proud" of something they had no control over.

Canada doesn't have as much racism as the US, I wonder why

@pooty:

Feeling proud of your race is embedded into our society but it is not natural. Being proud of your race is a learned behavior just as racism is a learned behavior. Any time a person feels "proud" of something, it means they did something above the norm. or accomplished something that others could not. Reaching a goal is something to be proud of. YOU actually did something to accomplish that goal. Being born irish, black, white or asian is nothing to feel proud of. Our race/nationality is not determined by us. Someone should not feel "proud" of something they had no control over.

Of course it is learned behavior. Racism, is also learned behavior. When one learns about the history of his/her race, he/she can then become proud because an eventful history is largely what forms identity. It also depends on which historical figure you're talking about, if the goal if a historical figure is to gain more rights for an entire race, then one may feel proud because it re-emphasizes the importance of what that figure did for the rest of their race.

As if not talking about is going to stop institutional racism. The true problem in the US is white supremacy not racism. Keeping blacks as an underclass is more of a problem than some random white person saying they don't like black people.

"Race" has nothing to do with culture.

Um, race is definitely linked to culture.

I don't think the history of a race is what forms a large part of our identity. Your family, immediate surroundings and own actions form your identity. I know a few of my ancestors were very rich. They created business for themselves. fought in the civil war etc. I'm proud of them but I feel no personal pride for their accomplishments. I don't think i've done anything special just by being related to them.

Let's take MLK Jr. He should be proud of himself. Most black people should be proud of MLK and grateful. But should a 20yr old black man feel proud of themselves because of what MLK did? No. Unless that 20yr old does something HIMSELF, to be proud of then he has no reason for pride. I'm just saying each individual should feel proud of personal accomplishments not for what others did.

Proud: feeling deep pleasure or satisfaction as a result of one's own achievements, qualities, or possessions or those of someone with whom one is closely associated.

Are you "proud" to be your race? Why?

Not really, i.e. a white German and a white Russian may be of the same race, but their cultures are entirely different. A white Dominican(like me) and a black Dominican share the same culture despite being different races

No. Ask an anthropologist. Race has absolutely nothing to do with a person's culture. Culture is the differences humans have with each other that can not be explained by inherited genetic traits. In case you did not know,the pigmentation of ones skin is a phenotype trait that is inherited from ones parents. @raiiyn

Race is a social construct. It doesn't actually exist beyond our belief in it. There's no actual biological difference that supports the idea of race or races and it's conception is simply there to oppress what people may perceive as "other" or "inferior". Here's the American Anthropologists Association official position on race: http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/racepp.htm

Race is really more of an ideology than anything else and it's existence in itself just fosters discrimination I think. Building more divides does nothing to benefit humanity.

When people wear shirts like I'm black and I'm proud it's having pride for one's heritage and what their race endured. When those shirts started coming around it came as a way of self empowerment for people who felt ostracized, oppressed, and seen as nothing simply because of the color of their skin. So when people wear shirts like I'm black and I'm proud it's saying "Yes I may be seen as a nothing in your society, due to the color of the skin but that doesn't mean I'm going to accept that and be ashamed of who I am".

If there is no biological difference then what keeps two black people from giving birth to an white baby, or two white people giving birth to a black baby, or two latinos giving birth to an asian baby?

Genetics!

Genetics is biological.

I think what Raiiyn is saying is that it is silly to take this one phenotype trait and make categories to group people into. The pigmentation of skin is a inherited genetic trait just like the pigmentation of ones hair or pigmentation of ones eyes. Would you make a race for people with red hair or a race for people with green eyes? So why make a race for people with brown skin?

Oh, and people of the same skin pigmentation can have a child with a different skin pigmentation. It is rare but it does happen. We surely wouldn't consider this child to belong to a different culture than his/her parents though.

Agreed, racism is decreasing every generation, racists nowadays are either just random old people who are gonna die soon or lonely trolls online who arnt gonna amount to anything in their lives. Let's just do what MLK wanted and stop splitting people up by races.

**le sigh**

Please notice I said none that supports race's existence. Meaning that none of relevance or import. Less than 6% between what people say are different races. In fact there are more biological differences between people that are assumed to be in the same racial class than not. You should read up some before you start asking silly questions.

Here's a link to an article by a science journalist with enough data to start you on your path to enlightenment. I suggest a good read through some academic biology and anthropology peer reviewed journals. There's actually a lot out there on this subject. It's pretty much consensus though that Intro Anthropology classes teach race as a social construct with no real biological difference between perceived racial groups.

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/22/science/do-races-differ-not-really-genes-show.html?src=pm&pagewanted=2

I don't care about it either way.

then why'd you respond to this thread?

"Mr Freeman, how would you stop the inequality between white and black people when it comes to disproportionate arrests in various cities?"

"Stop talking about it"

"Uh… okay… I mean young black mens lives are being ruined by biased if not necessarily biased police officers already and for a while now and no one really talks about it, at least the studies and statistics but…. oh okay Mr Freeman how about studies that show that black people have less career opportunities and educational opportunities? What can be done so that they are given a fair chance?

"Stop talking about it"

"Oh… I see… wait aren't you talking about it right now, just dismissing things by offering such a simple solution to a massively complicated problem with overarching nuance and multiple components?

"Stop talking about it"

"Oh… okay… sorry for bothering you Mr Freeman"

Okay but more seriously, is that really Morgan Freeman's answer to racism or is that just Morgan Freeman's opinion on Black History month? Isn't his implied answer in that single context more along the lines of an ideology that people can have where superficial differences shouldn't be given special privilege, their should be no black history month, or Jewish history month or white history month but that all of that should just be American history month? Which you know in itself… why not just have history month? Anyway I don't know American schools current general curriculum but I doubt that its flawless as far as covering important moments in history specifically the actions, treatment of minorities, again specifically black people. Maybe it does do an adequate job in which case great. Anyway the point is Freeman seems to be addressing ideologies in theory not actual day to day practiced discrimination nor actual current ongoing inequality, because his response doesn't address those things or answer those things. Nor am I going to say he is wrong or right either, I have no idea about what he could really mean from such a small clip.

@sc: Stop talking about it

@modernww2fare: I wanted to hear Morgan Freeman's opinion, and because I can.

@modernww2fare: Heh heh I am surprised no one has made a meme yet with Morgan Freeman and "Stop Talking About It" as the line. Could apply to any topic really. Another poster makes DC Vs Marvel thread… "Stop Talking About It"

@jnr6lil: I know they are proud of their heritage and for what their race endured. My point is: THEIR accomplishments are not MY accomplishments. I can't take pride in something I had ZERO involvement in.

That being said I understand why blacks wore them during the Civil Rights Movement

Finally someone on this forum who gets it.

The same reason why blacks wore them than are the same as now.

Dang dude. /Thread