Morgan Freeman Speaks Out

Morgan Freeman is one of America’s best actors. He has a tremendous screen presence. He and Redford were great in An Unfinished Life (although when J-Lo came on screen, you could feel the energy being sucked out of the movie).

Freeman has spoken out against Black History Month.

Morgan Freeman says the concept of a month dedicated to black history is "ridiculous." "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."

…

Freeman notes there is no "white history month," and says the only way to get rid of racism is to "stop talking about it."

The actor says he believes the labels "black" and "white" are an obstacle to beating racism.

"I am going to stop calling you a white man and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man," Freeman says.

I admire his stand. Black History Month is meant to honor black history -- but isn't it also a form of segregation?

I would say he’s talking about the paradox of multiculturalism: when you put a spotlight on race, you’re saying it is important to man’s nature. There’s a word for the idea that race determines character. It’s called racism.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was right when he said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Character is formed by the choices one makes.

It would be nice if we could get to the point that we don’t think of Morgan Freeman or Denzel Washington as black actors, but just as actors. That would be a sign of progress. To get there, we have to adjust our values in America and make race less important. The left will resist this with all they have; they need minorities as an interest group in order to expand the state.

(HT: Polipundit)

UPDATE: Bill Quick has a typically acidic observation:

Freeman is about to find himself lumbered with the Cosby charge of speaking while being insufficiently... black. He'll just have to content himself with being, like Cosby, more than sufficiently right.