Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman has explained why he’s no fan of both Black History Month and the description “African-American.”
“Black History Month is an insult. You’re going to relegate my history to a month?” he asked in an interview with The Sunday Times published Saturday.
“Also ‘African-American’ is an insult. I don’t subscribe to that title,” Freeman continued. “Black people have had different titles all the way back to the n-word and I do not know how these things get such a grip, but everyone uses ‘African-American’.”
“What does it really mean?” he asked. “Most Black people in this part of the world are mongrels. And you say Africa as if it’s a country when it’s a continent, like Europe.”
To emphasize his point, Freeman noted how “people talk about Irish-Americans or Italian-Americans, not Euro-Americans.”
Freeman made the same point almost two decades ago in 2005 when he described the annual celebration of Black History Month in the United States each February as “ridiculous.”
“You’re going to relegate my history to a month?” he asked in a “60 Minutes” interview with Mike Wallace. “What do you do with yours? Which month is White History Month?”
When Wallace said he was Jewish, Freeman asked if he wanted a Jewish History Month. Wallace said he didn’t.
“Oh, why not? Why not? You don’t want one? I don’t either,” Freeman replied. “I don’t want a Black History Month. Black history is American history.”
“How are we going to get rid of racism?” Wallace asked Freeman, who stars with Florence Pugh in the new movie “A Good Person.”
“Stop talking about it,” the actor responded. “I’m going to stop calling you a white man, and I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a Black man.”