I have to agree with this. We're never going to end racism until we stop talking about it; or end the double standard. Would it be okay to have White History Month, White Entertainment Television, National Association for the Advancement of White People?



WALLACE: Black History Month, you find ...

FREEMAN: Ridiculous.

WALLACE: Why?

FREEMAN: You're going to relegate my history to a month?

WALLACE: Come on.

FREEMAN: What do you do with yours? Which month is White History Month? Come on, tell me.

WALLACE: I'm Jewish.

FREEMAN: OK. Which month is Jewish History Month?

WALLACE: There isn't one.

FREEMAN: Why not? Do you want one?

WALLACE: No, no.

FREEMAN: I don't either. I don't want a Black History Month. Black history is American history.

WALLACE: How are we going to get rid of racism until ...?

FREEMAN: Stop talking about it. 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. You're not going to say, "I know this white guy named Mike Wallace." Hear what I'm saying?

Here is the Link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2d2SzRZvsQ

I agree with his statement but I do need to point out that Jewish Heritage Month is May, Irish American Heritage Month is March, Italian American Heritage month is October. German-American Heritage Month is Sept 15 - Oct 15. So there are multiple "White History" months, we just spread it out by European nations.

While I understand the point Freeman is attempting to make with that perspective it does miss the point that there was a need for Black History month when it was created and that no harm can come from dedicating a period of time on which to focus the spotlight on a faction of history that was actively ignored for far too long.

The problem I see with not talking about racism is that it might give the impression to the militant factions that we no longer see racial equality as an issue with any value.

My perspective is that we talk too much about it and more often than not in the wrong way. I find that too many people feel that only white people can be racist. I have, in fact, heard this clearly expressed by a past leader of the country in which I live, both while he was in office, and since. "Black people can not be racist. By definition it's simply not possible for them to be so." He's yet to advise where his particular definition comes from or what it happens to be, mind you.

It's this perspective that needs to be addressed, and the perception of racism that is being handed up from generation to generation that refuses to acknowledge that change has occurred. But it is very hard to convince the victims of racism and their descendents that they now have a hand in the continuation of the problem.

While we can do things to lessen racism, especially in the our national and business institutions, good luck ending it on all fronts. That is like trying to outlaw stupid people. Not going to happen. Racism, nationalism, tribalism....as long as you have lame people out there with no hint of an interesting, independent personality and a sufficiently low self esteem, they will always take way to much pride in either their race, their nation, that regional placement in regards to the rest of the nation and it will lead to mainly two things, taking credit for things someone else did and hating whole groups of people based on the crimes of others or even other generations. It's a sad state of affairs, but it's human failing, and the best thing we can do to try to curtail any "ism" is to not only ignore these poor dumb *kitten* in our daily lives, but to more importantly confront them in the arenas of debate.

Would Black Heritage Month be a better way of donig it? So we're focusing on what people of African descent have brought culturally to this nation and not just on their history, which I agree is "just history" and shouldn't be separated.

Every city that has a large Italian population has an Italian festival of some kind. there are German festivals and Polish and Irish. It's a celebration of the culture and an acknowledgment that the US is richer for all of these people's contributions.

But what Heritage is black history month celebrating? Blacks from where? It's the same reason you can't lump white into history without specifying a culture. You don't cal; Italian heritage Tan history or Mexican history Brown history so why BLACK history?

This is what ticked me off about Beyonce doing some African goddess ad awhile back. I saw a documentary on it and she dressed like an African Queen of some sort but she didn't really seem to understand her heritage. So does black automatically mean African? No black people that actually have heritage from any other place but Africa? Also, let's not forget that ALL black people have descended from slaves in their families. All of them.

Have African history month (there are white Africans too) but to specific events and groups by SKIN COLOR and not a specific heritage, is racist in itself.

It is absolutely untrue that ALL black people descended from slaves. Most in the US, sure, and many others around the world. But you do realize that Africans would go to war, capture their enemies and then sell them as slaves, right? And not every black person in Africa got sold into slavery. Many were never slaves at all, and I'm pretty certain many of them had children and their children had children and so on.

But to your other point, you're right in a way. But that's true for any heritage. What people think of as "Italian" is mostly Sicilian and not accurate for all people who descend from Italy. My family is from northern Italy. The food we make is very different from southern Italy. Many of our customs differ, too. But we're all from Italy.

Now, Africa is a continent, not a country so it's more complicated. BUT ... at least in the US, because so many black people did descend from slaves, they melded their individual cultures into something somewhat recognizable. They gave us some amazing music -- so much of the best modern music has roots in slave spirituals. Then there's "soul food," which is pretty amazing. You can find entire restaurants dedicated to it.

I don't know what the answer is and I agree that it's impossible to eradicate racism because some people are just ignorant, evil or both.