Morgan Freeman on Black History Month and racism

[usernamenumber]

I happened upon this video a moment ago (ignore the stupidly hyperbolic title), and am signal-boosting it less because I have a solid position on the subject at hand than because I think Freeman articulates a thought-provoking position well:

I worry that "stop talking about it" belies the complexities of the intersection of race, history and society. It seems kind of like saying that we could solve "the theft problem" if everyone would just quit stealing one another's stuff. Yeah, that's true, but...

Regardless, never let it be said that Morgan Freeman doesn't know how to make a point.

Comments

[breakinglight11.livejournal.com]

I feel like the "don't talk about it" idea is something like communism-- if we all could behave as perfectly as the theory demands (as in, all treat each other perfectly equally and without racial bias) in life, in the justice system, in education, blah blah blah, then the theory would work. As that doesn't happen in life, as with communism, "don't talk about it" isn't a practical way to make things better.

[zombie-dog.livejournal.com]

I don't agree with Mr. Freeman's perspective. He has a tremendous force of personality, but in truth he had very little to say -- he only knew how to ask difficult questions of a man who didn't expect them.

Within the generally liberal subcultures in which we run, race blindness is not a solution, it is a problem. Privilege is at its most damaging when its wielder is not aware of it. The issue of cultural appropriation can't be fought or stopped by people who take a race blind stance.

I just don't find all that many thoughts provoked by this. "Get over it and quiet down" is something that we need to be saying to ourselves as the privileged majority, not something that we should be suggesting that minorities do.

[contradictacat.livejournal.com]

Fuckin' yes. "I don't see race" is the laziest, most casually dismissive way to tell someone that they- who they are- does not matter. And to insist that people ignore their personal every day experiences in the name of "getting over it" and "behaving" is to want to eliminate an integral part of themselves.

I'd disagree that this is not thought-provoking, though. Mostly, I just think "oh shit, not this fuckery again".

[usernamenumber.livejournal.com]

I'd be curious to read your thoughts on the response I just posted to the parent comment.

[usernamenumber.livejournal.com]

To me the provocative part was thinking along the lines of "this is naive now, but isn't it where we want to be, and if so will we ever actual get there, and how will we know if/when we do?".

What I hear in Mr. Freeman's words and tone is someone representing a minority that is oppressed, but who, on a personal and individual level seems to have largely escaped that due to the respect he generally garners. From that privileged position, I can understand his frustration with "well, at this point the main thing holding me back from being treated as an equal is... being treated as an equal", kind of like what ultimatepsi was saying. I think Freeman is being myopic, maybe you could even say selfish, but it raises the question of, as movements for racial equality succeed and more people find themselves in Freeman's position, where is the tipping point?

[zombie-dog.livejournal.com]

It's hard for me to address that question because the idea of our society reaching a point where racism is over is such a distant idea. Perhaps gender egalitarianism is closer, but given the HUGE gender essentialism backlash that I've been seeing lately, I'm not so sure.

Perhaps I'm pessimistic. I really think that every human has a clannish, xenophobic corner of its sentience that is devoted to hoarding privilege and making the bearer blind to it. While there is a majority, it will oppress. They have done for eons. I don't feel as though I, or other people who believe in breaking down privilege, are in imminent danger of missing the point where racism or sexism ends and we're still fighting for the advantage of a now-equal minority.

There seems to be this weird notion that I see floating around that believes that movements for equality are going to magically overshoot their goal and suddenly create a situation opposite to the one they were designed to fight. I don't buy it.

What's more, I think that encouraging people to EVER stop looking at their privilege and dissolving it is a bad idea. Just look at the comments on that youtube video -- it's chock full of people congratulating themselves and denigrating antiracists because a black man told them that we can stop talking about racism. Hooray, thank goodness! Racism is over; now we can talk about how rap isn't music and nobody will think we're afraid of hip-hop culture. Whew, back to 4chan.

If anything, the thought that this provokes is a reminder that the individual experience of a marginalized person can mislead.

[contradictacat.livejournal.com]

Oh god. The scare tactic of "OMGZ WE'RE ALL GOING TO BE RULED BY BLACK PEOPLE HOMOSEXUALS AND WOMEN OH NOOOOOOOOOOO" is so fucking ridiculous as to be laughable, if it weren't genuinely believed by a depressing amount of people.

Also, the problem with that is.....?

[contradictacat.livejournal.com]

I question your basic assumption that movements for racial equality are succeeding. They are making progress towards eventual success, yes, but given that there is still tons and tons of racism going on, I would not classify this age as "success".

Morgan Freeman is incredibly, astoundingly lucky, and that video makes me wonder if he remembers that. Not every actor, regardless of race, gets the kinds of chances he did to become as crazy successful as he's been.

I wonder what his definition of "equality" is? Because nobody is equal to everybody else. Say two cis, straight, white, able bodied, middle class menn walk into a job interview. They both have the exact same qualifications, they want the exact same job. They will both take the job if they get it. But one will get the job while the other won't, based entirely on how that interview went- how they interacted with the interviewer. They are identical in all external ways, but they are not equal- one got the job and the other didn't.

When everyone can get to that point- where everyone can get treated like they are a perfect kyriarchical specimen, then we can sit back and say "success!". Not even Morgan Freeman can say he is that, though. Sure, people don't give him roles because they feel bad for him and think he could use the work, but they sure as hell know what they're doing when they cast him - as a black man - in the role of God. Maybe I'm wrong, and they just cast him for the voice, but it entered the picture eventually, I guarantee you.

So I guess what I'm saying is that the tipping point will come when people like Morgan Freeman are no longer the exception and when everyone can be treated as equally as the kyriarchy. Until then, there will always be people who need support structures like that to give them the luck and the chances for success that Morgan Freeman had.

[usernamenumber.livejournal.com]

I don't think I disagree with anything you're saying, but would clarify one thing: when I said "as movements for racial equality succeed", I didn't intend to convey that they "are succeeding" in the present day in a way that is distinct from "making progress toward eventual success".

[ultimatepsi.livejournal.com]

usernamenumber, I think you are mostly accurately representing my views here. Except that I'd say it as "well, at this point the main thing holding me back from being treated as an equal is... being told I'm not being treated as an equal by people who claim to be helping me."

I am going to stop following this discussion now, before I offend any more people than I obviously already had, and before anyone else gets the chance to make me angry.

[ultimatepsi.livejournal.com]

Does LJ have an "untrack" option, anyhow?

[ultimatepsi.livejournal.com]

The way I see it, black history month, affirmative action, gender-based scholarships, etc. are like a crutch. After you've broken your leg (or had a racist, sexist history), they are a great way to get you moving again. But if you want full mobility (or a truly just society) eventually you need to stop using them and learn to walk in balance again.

I say this more from the minority perspective of a woman in engineering than from the privileged perspective of being white/Jewish.

I had a great comment and then LJ ate it, but...

[contradictacat.livejournal.com]

The main point is- It's hard for a broken leg to heal when not only people are constantly kicking you in the shins, but also occasionally grabbing your crutch out from under you while demanding that you should be walking by now, that it's unfair that you get a crutch and they don't. A just world is a great thing to aspire to, but to think we're there already, when women are still objectified even at the highest levels of power, when people of color are dehumanized in a million tiny and not so tiny ways...that's just pure naivete and ignorance.

Re: I had a great comment and then LJ ate it, but...

[ultimatepsi.livejournal.com]

I didn't mean to imply that we are as a society yet ready to discard the crutches. I don't think we have a just society. And I certainly don't want to speak for people of color.

However, I am going to speak for myself as a woman. My personal experience is that I rarely feel discriminated against by men, but I do get a lot of women telling me that I'm "objectified" and that I don't have a chance because of discrimination. I hate that.

I went on merit scholarship to WPI, and I hated people saying I only got that scholarship because I was a women, rather than thinking, "oh, she must be really bright." If there weren't "helpful" gender based standards, people put more worth in my achievements.

When I watched the video clip that started this discussion. The parallel I made to my own life when like this: Some one tells me that I can compete in a special math league for girls. My reaction is "I want to compete in the real math league! Or don't you think I can make it there, [insulting name]?"

I'm just trying to say that a support for one person can be a confinement for another.

Re: I had a great comment and then LJ ate it, but...

[usernamenumber.livejournal.com]

I reference your comments in a response to zombie_dog above. Would appreciate you checking in to be sure I didn't mis-represent you.

Re: I had a great comment and then LJ ate it, but...

[zombie-dog.livejournal.com]

I feel the need to make an observation:

Gender segregation in competition isn't an equality measure, it's gender segregation.

Being told that you only got a scholarship because you're a woman is not equality measures devaluing you, it's people making sexist assumptions about you.

If a person of color gets a job and his coworker tells him that he got the job because of affirmative action and not his own merits, it is not affirmative action that is being racist. It's the coworker.

I think I can sort of see where you're coming from? But it's hard not to read it, combined with your above comment, as "I don't feel the need for a crutch, so I wish they would stop being available for other women."

...when in fact it seems like what you'd rather have happen is for people to stop making ableist comments at you just because crutches exist.

[real-green-tea.livejournal.com]

It's true. There shouldn't be a black history month -- there should be a racism history month, focusing on social injustice toward black people.

There's a super-special American-flavored racism that every American deserves to be educated about. Americans deserve to know that no reparations were ever made to the families of enslaved peoples. States now widely publicized to have institutionalized eugenics programs, have not nor probably ever will compensate the families of women who underwent forced sterilization -- and were never told about it. And let's not forget the Reagan administration.

I think the American people deserve the time to have an open and frank discussion about why they feel like it's okay to continue to regard people with prejudice based on skin color. Why the differences?

I'm a Morgan Freeman fan and I can appreciate that there's something to treating people as individuals. That's not to say there's no place for a time of reflection on black history in America.
'Cause guess what. The real reason there's a black history month is because the way history is taught is largely idiotic, and excludes the societal contributions of people who had darker skin, and somebody else came along and thought hey, you can't just ignore the history of this huge group of people, and then other people agreed with that person.

[contradictacat.livejournal.com]

The only racism is against blacks? That's news to me.

[real-green-tea.livejournal.com]

Uh, no. But it could account for the de-people-ifying of black people that accounts for them being erased from history, thus justifying a black history month. Amongst other reasons.
(Was this a tl; dr comment? Or, do you not believe that there is still racism against blacks in the US?)

[contradictacat.livejournal.com]

Sorry, that was me trying and failing to be flip about the "racism history month, focusing on social injustice toward black people" line. Because, you know. Tons and tons of racism everywhere that isn't as acknowledged (when was the last time you heard about Native American Heritage Month, for example) (psst, it's November).

But yeah. Personally, I'd prefer for there to be a designated Anti-Racism month, where teachers have to systematically break down and check people's privilege, because then telling them things like "No reparations to the families of those sterilized without their consent were ever made" will become a lot more affecting instead of "well, what does that have to do with me?".

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

A really good post on this topic: http://goodmenproject.com/ethics-values/i-talk-about-race-because-i-dont-know-how-not-to/

His criticisms about Black History Month aren't unfair. He's right that black history IS American history, while the Month can take on the frustrating shape of an annual repetition of well-known stories about the usual suspects confined to the shortest month of the year. And yet, having one Black History Month (and eleven White History Months) is still better than having twelve White History Months. For Freeman's criticisms to be valid, we need to KEEP talking about it, not STOP talking about it.

I'm a reasonably race-conscious white person. And yet, last February, the arrival Black History Month prompted me to take a look at my syllabus (fairy tales and writing) and realize that all my authors were white. I was motivated to ask a question I hadn't before thought to ask -- any good recommendations for black fairy tale authors? I asked Facebook. I researched, discovered, learned about, and added two new authors to my syllabus just in time for the last day of February. One of them was Nalo Hopkinson, whose stories I have kept in later iterations of the class (even if they didn't fall in the spring!) and have now seen multiple students choose to write papers about. And I put her in my World Lit syllabus too, even though there's no shortage of authors of color in that one!

Also, FWIW, May is Jewish American Heritage Month. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_American_Heritage_Month

[breakinglight11.livejournal.com]

I also think I hear a bit of "when can I just be a dude instead of a black dude?" Because as a high profile black figure I bet he gets treated like an authority on all things Black Experience and doesnt want to be separated from Normal Person Experience like that. Which I can understand.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I got that feeling too. I really liked the way the writer addresses that problem in the essay I linked to above.