Morgan Freeman Gets It Right
Actor Morgan Freeman has said something that I’ve been thinking for a long time when he criticized the idea of Black History Month.
“You’re going to relegate my history to a month?” the 68-year-old actor says in an interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes” to air Sunday (7 p.m. EST). “I don’t want a black history month. Black history is American history.”
Every February we celebrate Black history in America and call it Black History Month. But it’s all history that has taken place in America (slavery, segregation, emancipation, etc.) so it’s really part of American history. The lessons learned from that history are lessons that all Americans can learn from as opposed to just Black people so let’s just integrate it with American history. We don’t have a Jewish history month. We don’t have a Latin history month. So why is there a Black History Month?
Freeman explains that by specifying a time of year to discuss Black history you are focusing on the differences between Black and White and fostering racism by drawing attention to those differences. He says to abolish Black History Month and integrate Black history with American history.
Freeman notes … the only way to get rid of racism is to “stop talking about it.”
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