To be fair, I'm always extremely skeptical when I hear that a black person is speaking out about race issues. It frequently seems to me that the whole of the black community believes quite a few tall tales about their history.
But Morgan Freeman makes an excellent point. One that my mother has been stating for years. I never really got it growing up. It's just not starting to make sense.
"How do we get rid of racism?"
"Stop talking about it."
(Better quality video can be found here if you're interested.)
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3 comments:
1948 born comment. Bigotry and prejudice are wrong.
Now, don't ask me to support gay marriage. I won't.
Make it a great day!
In truth, Victoria, I can't believe anyone who still talks about this. I'm 61 and the credo I grew up with was "bigotry and prejudice are wrong". The second was "politics is full of ticks".
terrific blog!
I would applaud Morgan Freeman's comments during this highly edited series of sound bites, except he just participated in the oral recitation of Howard Zinn's fictitious version of history.
Ok, so he doesn't want "Black History Month." He says "Black History is American History."
I'll buy that.
But I suspect his "version" of American History is an overemphasis on the experiences of one particular racial group.
Now, don't ask me what the proper "emphasis" on the black experience in America is. There is so much to talk about in American History and relatively little time to talk about it in classrooms.
When I graduated from high school I don't recall ever making it past the Civil War in my prior history classes. I didn't understand the Vietnam and Korean wars until I taught a class on them.
In English classes I read Richard Wright, Chinua Achebe, and Toni Morrison. I don't remember reading any Mark Twain and only read one play of Shakespeare. We were forced to read Dickinson, but I don't remember reading Dickens.
Perhaps we set the bar too low on education. Maybe there is time to cover everything that needs to be covered. I was a college professor, not an elementary or secondary school teacher. I don't know what's feasible.
What I do know is that teachers spend too much time teaching things which do not prepare students for college and career.
I didn't read a word of Frederick Douglass until I was an adult and it was love at first read!
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