Couldn't agree more. Just when you think Morgan Freeman couldn't be any more awesome, he goes up a notch...

I didn't put this in chit chat because I'd rather have a serious discussion.

Another thing I find very interesting is that Morgan Freeman's home town still has separate proms for blacks and whites. He also says that after school, kids don't socialize (white and black) and they're not allowed to touch? This is something that parents on BOTH sides want which is why the school enforces it.

(Btw, this video is old as sin but new to me)

[Edited on February 2, 2010 at 8:48 PM. Reason : .]

2/2/2010 8:47:35 PM

why in the hell should i care what an actor thinks about black history month?

2/2/2010 8:48:27 PM

same reason why you would care what anyone other then yourself would think. But it is an interesting point of view that I agree with.

[Edited on February 2, 2010 at 8:50 PM. Reason : e]

2/2/2010 8:50:07 PM

then why don't you just post the position?

2/2/2010 8:50:59 PM

its a 55 second video. It has a better impact on the viewer if they hear it from him instead of me writing out a script for you to read. Now that you've wasted 2 posts...do you really want to waste a third?

2/2/2010 8:53:03 PM

even though he's stating the obvious... at least he's saying it out loud.
don't get me wrong here either. black history has just as much place in "history" as that of any other race.. telling half the story is always a cheap experience. teach about the civil rights movement; don't hide slavery and injustices done in years past. at the same time why is a special month necessary in 2010? i said this during the last election. anybody that's seen my posts knows i was on the conservative ticket and i still am. despite that, i couldn't give two cents what color a candidate is. i don't care what color anybody is. to be completely honest most of the times i've felt tension towards a race is when it's thrown in my face over and over again. who cares if a white man did this, or a black man did that.. even though it isn't, it should be completely irrelevant in conversation.
[/words]

2/2/2010 8:55:23 PM

Quote :

"even though he's stating the obvious... at least he's saying it out loud. don't get me wrong here either. black history has just as much place in "history" as that of any other race.. "

I agree, at least he's saying it out loud and Morgan Freeman is a respected actor which I think carries some weight then if a nobody off the streets says the same thing.

I think thats what he's saying, is why devote a month to it? Make it a apart of American history like everything else in American history because its a part of it whether you like it or not. As you said, throwing race in everyones face doesn't make things better.

2/2/2010 8:59:16 PM

why do I care what a guy who is marrying his granddaughter has to say about anything?

2/2/2010 9:37:59 PM

why do I care what a guy who is marrying his granddaughter has to say about anything?

2/2/2010 9:37:59 PM

didn't he pay for the first integrated prom ever at his old high school and it was a failure a few years ago

2/2/2010 9:48:38 PM

Damn straight. Racism will never end until we stop describing people as "black people" or "white people" or "red man"... it should just be "people" (or engine in regards to american indians.)

2/2/2010 11:29:14 PM

It won't help if we stop talking about race while there is still institutional racism in this country. It's not surprising at all that Freeman is out of touch: he's rich and white people love him. Hey guys I have a couple of million collars, and there's good news: we can stop discussing race now!

[Edited on February 3, 2010 at 3:34 AM. Reason : .]

2/3/2010 3:33:47 AM

completely ignoring race in history can hide people's motivations for things, because some people are racist.

"hitler was responsible for the killing of a lot of people" doesnt really tell the whole story

[Edited on February 3, 2010 at 10:15 AM. Reason : hitler is not american history, but just an example]

2/3/2010 10:15:16 AM

Quote :

"I'm going to stop calling you a white man, and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man. I know you as Mike Wallace, you know me as Morgan Freeman."

This . . . 100% . . . yes.

Quote :

"It won't help if we stop talking about race while there is still institutional racism in this country."

I hear this claim all the time and I'm not saying it isn't true, but I'd like to see you give an example of institutional racism (specifically, racism, not just the long term effects of poverty) and how rich white awareness will fix the problem.

This is just my opinion, but racism will not be solved by white guilt offerings of "black history month" or affirmative action which do nothing to address the fundamental error of defining fellow humans by their skin color. The success of the civil rights movement was based on the concept that all men are created equal, as men, not that "black men" should have the same rights as "white men" but that all men should share in the same rights.

2/3/2010 10:40:10 AM

Quote :

"why do I care what a guy who is marrying his granddaughter has to say about anything?"

For real. Sick fuck.

2/3/2010 11:10:27 AM

Hes not black! He is rich! He doesn't count!!1

2/3/2010 11:20:49 AM

Quote :

"Just when you think Morgan Freeman couldn't be any more awesome"

Hahahaha so you look up to this fuckstick. I don't see how people still respect him when he did the same shit that Woody Allen did, only worse.

2/3/2010 11:29:01 AM

Quote :

"It won't help if we stop talking about race while there is still institutional racism in this country. It's not surprising at all that Freeman is out of touch: he's rich and white people love him. Hey guys I have a couple of million collars, and there's good news: we can stop discussing race now!"

I would say Morgan Freeman is more in touch with race issues than most celebrities or 'rich folk'. He lives in a small town where schools are still segregated to a point. Separate Proms for whites and blacks, they aren't allowed to touch each other while in school, after school they don't socialize together etc. He's fully aware of the issue and to quote him from another interview, his small town is probably the "most Southern place in the world"

He definitely has the right idea, racism is fueled by labeling people by race, blaming race for cause, etc. We need to get past all that, slavery is over, there was a civil rights movement, now is the time to stop referring to one another as race, but as men.

Quote :

"Hahahaha so you look up to this fuckstick. I don't see how people still respect him when he did the same shit that Woody Allen did, only worse."

I don't know him personally so I wouldn't say I look up to him. I have seen his movies and think he is one of the most talented actors which makes him awesome (as an actor) so why shouldn't I like him? He also happens to have similar views on race as I do.

[Edited on February 3, 2010 at 11:34 AM. Reason : .]

2/3/2010 11:32:16 AM

Quote :

"I hear this claim all the time and I'm not saying it isn't true, but I'd like to see you give an example of institutional racism (specifically, racism, not just the long term effects of poverty) and how rich white awareness will fix the problem."

Tell me with a straight face that most city police departments are not systematically racist.

Rich white awareness won't fix the problem because there's no incentive for them to care, so long as the poors aren't knocking on their door. Prison's a great way to do this. So is living in seclusion.

2/3/2010 11:50:18 AM

Quote :

"It won't help if we stop talking about race while there is still institutional racism in this country. It's not surprising at all that Freeman is out of touch: he's rich and white people love him. Hey guys I have a couple of million collars, and there's good news: we can stop discussing race now!"

2/3/2010 12:23:00 PM

Freeman is right.

The main reason racism is still around, and will continue to be around, is because we:

1) ...act like "black" or "white" is a culture --- as in "black voters", "black history month", "black music", "black entertainment television", or the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Colored people?!??? Really?!?? Stop this segregation of culture and citizen advocacy. It is 100% racist. There are no "white issues", "black issues" or "latino issues". That is 100% racist. There are "poverty issues", "education issues", "language issues, "culture issues" and "prejudice issues". There aren't "black people", or "white people" but rather there are "people who are black" and "people who are white". Suggesting that anything can be known about a person or group of people, simply based on their skin color is completely racist. Some of you like to laugh at shit like stuffwhitepeoplelike.com, completely missing the FACT that that kind of thinking encourages and supports the growth of racism. We should condemn these things.

2) ...practice public affirmative action. We have different rules and privileges for people based on the color of their skin. That is 100% racist. Also, future would-be-racists will have generations worth of "You didn't even earn that _______ (job, position, degree, etc.,) because you received affirmative action." fodder. This blatantly racist discrimination must be stopped. It hurts more than it helps.... plus, the ends don't justify the means. There should be equality under the law, not inequality under the law based on your skin pigment. I mean, duh! Now, affirmative action practiced solely in the private sector with private money, is fine. I personally would give my money to support native americans and atheists. Maybe you would give it somewhere else. The fucking government, however, should NOT be discriminating. That. That is institutionalized racism.

2/3/2010 12:58:23 PM

As a person who experiences literally no discrimination whatsoever, I think we should stop discussing race.

2/3/2010 1:12:02 PM

Quote :

"discussing race."

It's not just about discussing race. It's whether the discussion is:
"Race means something...." or "Race doesn't mean something...."

You can discuss racial prejudice without asserting that race means anything. It seems, however, that some opponents of racial prejudice feel that they can somehow fight racial prejudice by continuing to assert that people who have black skin have a culture, a "black culture"... and that people who have white skin have a culture, a "white culture"... and that we just need for these two cultures (and others,) to get along better. Instead, we opponents of racial prejudice should be saying that all cultures should get along better, and that the cultures aren't defined by skin color. Just because we're coming out of a particular history whereby most cultures are predominantly one race or another, doesn't mean that it always has to be that way -- that these racial identities have anything intrinsic about them in regards to culture they may be in.

2/3/2010 1:24:39 PM

People cluster socially based on appearance, behavior, and all sorts of other things. Similar people cluster socially.

2/3/2010 1:36:08 PM

^
Sure, but the similarity of skin color is as trivial as the similarity of eye color or birth month. More noticeable? sure... and that's a challenge, as many people are stupid. But you can't simply say that that's the way it is. Doing so makes you a segregation sympathizer. Doing so reinforces the 100% racist view that there exists a "black culture" or "white culture".

(I'm not going to go back and forth with you on this. It's pretty clear, and if you don't get it, fine.)

2/3/2010 1:50:36 PM

Quote :

"why do I care what a guy who is marrying his granddaughter has to say about anything?"

for real.

great actor or not, Morgan Freeman has lost all credibility. i don't think i'll ever watch or listen to anything he does, again.

this sordid shit makes even Woody Allen go 'WTF?'




[Edited on February 3, 2010 at 1:59 PM. Reason : ]

2/3/2010 1:57:39 PM

Quote :

"Sure, but the similarity of skin color is as trivial as the similarity of eye color or birth month. More noticeable? sure... and that's a challenge, as many people are stupid. But you can't simply say that that's the way it is. Doing so makes you a segregation sympathizer. Doing so reinforces the 100% racist view that there exists a "black culture" or "white culture". (I'm not going to go back and forth with you on this. It's pretty clear, and if you don't get it, fine.)"

lmao are you fucking kidding me?

2/3/2010 2:03:42 PM

^
Yeah, I don't really know that you're saying that. I should've said:

Quote :

"Sure, but the similarity of skin color is as trivial as the similarity of eye color or birth month. More noticeable? sure... and that's a challenge, as many people are stupid. But one can't simply say that that's the way it is. Doing so makes one a segregation sympathizer. Doing so reinforces the 100% racist view that there exists a "black culture" or "white culture"."

Quote :

"marrying his granddaughter"

What? Is this true?

2/3/2010 2:08:16 PM

Quote :

"why do I care what a guy who is marrying his granddaughter has to say about anything? "

No to get off-track, but I was all in the dark on this thing. Is that for real, or what? All I could google was random tabloid/gossip sites, and then Freeman's publicist saying it was all crap.

2/3/2010 2:14:08 PM

this is not hard.

http://www.google.com/search?q=morgan+freeman+granddaughter

2/3/2010 2:20:08 PM

Quote :

"As a person who experiences literally no discrimination whatsoever, I think we should stop discussing race."

So because of your skin color you should be discriminated against and not have a voice in this discussion?

^the hard part is googling respectable sources with facts.

[Edited on February 3, 2010 at 2:32 PM. Reason : .]

2/3/2010 2:27:50 PM

Like he said, all it comes up with is tabloid sites. I haven't found anything that confirms it, for me. I guess it's best to assume he's guilty, though.

2/3/2010 2:30:02 PM

Isn't guilty until proven innocent the American way or do I have that backwards? Or is it the color of his skin that makes him guilty first?

[Edited on February 3, 2010 at 2:33 PM. Reason : ...]

2/3/2010 2:33:08 PM

They're not blood related and they're not getting married. Tabloids love to embellish.

That said, it's still a little creepy to me....mostly because he's black.

2/3/2010 2:33:21 PM

Quote :

"lmao are you fucking kidding me?"

I happen to agree with his point of view. What is the joke that we missed?

2/3/2010 2:35:27 PM

Quote :

"Tell me with a straight face that most city police departments are not systematically racist."

There is a lot of conjecture in that statement which you may or may not be able to back up with empirical evidence.

Furthermore, how do you define institutionally racist? Does a department that locks up a seemingly disproportionate number of black males count as racist if the internal promotions of black officers is at or greater than the rate of similarly qualified white males? Is the higher incarceration rate of inner city black males due to active (or even passive) racism on the part of the officers or is it a result of a vicious cycle of poverty that has less to do with skin color than the culture of poor inner city black males? Is the "racism" of officers a result of an inherent hatred for black males or is it a function of the human brain and Bayesian rules?

I'm not saying racism doesn't exist, but the seemingly incessant scapegoat of "institutional racism" for nearly every chronic problem confronting poor black America has begun to ring hollow.

2/3/2010 2:36:28 PM

Quote :

"Is the "racism" of officers a result of an inherent hatred for black males or is it a function of the human brain and Bayesian rules?"

"Blacks are criminals, and cops are simply inductive hypothesis machines"

Quote :

"Is the "racism" of officers a result of an inherent hatred for black males or is it a function of the human brain and Bayesian rules?"

If they were Bayesians they'd probably be less racist

Quote :

"Is the higher incarceration rate of inner city black males due to active (or even passive) racism on the part of the officers or is it a result of a vicious cycle of poverty that has less to do with skin color than the culture of poor inner city black males?"

I like how you assume the vicious cycle of poverty is not due to racism

[Edited on February 3, 2010 at 3:04 PM. Reason : .]

2/3/2010 2:55:30 PM

Quote :

"I like how you assume the vicious cycle of poverty is not due to racism"

The fact that you are dwelling on what the cause is, IS part of the problem and racism. They shouldn't get assistance because they're black, hispanic, or white but because they're in poverty.

Crime follows poverty regardless of race, the sooner we stop associating race as a cause of crime the better.

2/3/2010 3:09:47 PM

Quote :

"The fact that you are dwelling on what the cause is, IS part of the problem and racism. They shouldn't get assistance because they're black, hispanic, or white but because they're in poverty."

No shit, Mark! You're a fucking geniuS!!!!!1

Quote :

"Crime follows poverty regardless of race, the sooner we stop associating race as a cause of crime the better."

Except race in many of these cases is a joint cause of the poverty, along with racism. Or we could go with the alternative hypothesis people in this thread are tacitly pushing: niggers are lazy criminals

2/3/2010 3:16:01 PM

I like how you assume the vicious cycle of poverty is due to racism




See how we can play that game? Your quips are witty and clever but don't really address anything.


Look, I think it is asinine to assume that 200 years of truly institutionalized racism and it's effects can be wiped out by 30 years of affirmative action. I don't expect young men barely two generations removed from Jim Crow to forget all the lessons and stories from their grandfathers about the very real, very institutionalized and very brutal racism of their day. That being said, "institutionalized racism" has become a scapegoat for the utterly failed social structure created by the "War on Poverty" and the "War on Drugs".

2/3/2010 3:21:18 PM

Quote :

"I like how you assume the vicious cycle of poverty is due to racism See how we can play that game? Your quips are witty and clever but don't really address anything. Look, I think it is asinine to assume that 200 years of truly institutionalized racism and it's effects can be wiped out by 30 years of affirmative action. I don't expect young men barely two generations removed from Jim Crow to forget all the lessons and stories from their grandfathers about the very real, very institutionalized and very brutal racism of their day."

You disagree with me and then argue my point. Welp.

2/3/2010 3:37:20 PM

wow

you got agreement with your asinine point from what he typed?

face -> palm

2/3/2010 3:39:19 PM

Racism has disappeared in 30 years folks, it's true. Only liberals preserve racism due to their obsession with talking about it.

2/3/2010 3:45:49 PM

Racism is the reason for every minority problem and the reason for every white man's advantage! Its true folks, nothings changed in 30 years.

2/3/2010 3:47:26 PM

It's not what I'm saying, but when you drop people straight from slavery into poverty, put them through Jim Crow, and then underfund their school districts what the fuck do you expect? There's seriously no way out of a lot of those communities. But I'm sure if you were born into that group you'd be the exception, since your disposition is so remarkably strong.

2/3/2010 3:49:32 PM

oh I'm sorry

someone here is misunderstanding YOUR point??

2/3/2010 3:51:02 PM

Let's start the thread over, I'll help you.

OP: BLACK PERSON SAY A THING
Generic soapbox peckerwoods: lol niggers

2/3/2010 3:57:28 PM

Quote :

"No shit, Mark! You're a fucking geniuS!!!!!1"

thanks, I already know this. However, your point of view has changed and I'm not even sure what your argument is anymore.

Quote :

"Except race in many of these cases is a joint cause of the poverty, along with racism. Or we could go with the alternative hypothesis people in this thread are tacitly pushing: niggers are lazy criminals"

You keep going backwards and blaming it all on racism, get past that. They're poor, what are we going to do to help the POOR have better opportunities? You're stuck in this racist paradox which fuels itself with your way of thinking. There is poverty all over the country and the world regardless of race. The same issues with poverty are common across the globe (crime, drugs, exploitation, etc, etc). What do you suppose they all have in common? Poverty or race?

My point: stop making it a race issue.

[Edited on February 3, 2010 at 4:00 PM. Reason : .]

2/3/2010 3:58:36 PM

Yeah race and poverty are uncorrelated worldwide, and racist exploitation is not a reasonable mechanistic explanation for it

2/3/2010 4:07:36 PM

Quote :

"Yeah race and poverty are uncorrelated worldwide, and racist exploitation is not a reasonable mechanistic explanation for it"

again, why are you dwelling on the causes and not the solutions?

Its not just race thats correlated to poverty. People of the same race but different defining characteristics stand on opposite sides of the great divide (poverty). A few examples among African, Arab, and southeast Asian nations.

2/3/2010 4:12:22 PM