I would be genuinely interested to see what Freeman now thinks of that 16 (or more?) year old clip. While I don’t in any way question his experience or opinion, I think in some way that mindset was very much a (perhaps necessary) product of its time where color-blindness was considered to be the whole picture rather than a smaller bandaid solution of limited efficacy in the context of a holistic healing process.
scarabic@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Answer: you’re white, right? Few people who experience growing up black in America come away saying “what’s the big deal about race, anyway?”
If you want to know what the big deal is with being black, there’s wonderful tradition in American literature of telling you all about it. Pick up a copy of Black Boy by Richard Wright for a place to start.
Why are people making more of a thing out of it than they were 10 years ago? Well, my personal view is that the whole “just don’t talk about it and it will go away” has not worked. Life outcomes for white and black people are statistically quite different and it’s due to more than just talking about race. So I think people are getting sick of being quiet about something that clearly matters, and are talking about it openly. Others are responding by saying that talking about it is the entire problem and is, itself, racist. This is about the dumbest shit ever IMHO but some people are just really sick of having to hear about it and as a sheltered white person you have little personal reason to care. That is unless you care about other people.
spujb@lemmy.cafe 2 weeks ago
scarabic@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Obviously he has had an extensive career making films that talk about race, so it’s contradictory on the face of it for him to say “stop talking about it.” Okay, dude! Stop making films that talk about it then!
Yeah. It was an off the cuff remark and right before it he commented on Black History month as limiting black people’s history to just one month a year, which is plainly stupid. Are we offended that Veterans Day bans all appreciation of service folk the other 364 days a year? No.
He is rich and famous and would love to not have the “black actor” label applied to him but again, an extemporaneous comment by a celebrity does not make a thorough analysis that works for everyone.
grue@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
In other words, being able to choose to disregard the concept of race is itself an expression of privilege.
In a perfect world where everybody had that attitude, it would be the right attitude to have. But as long as some people continue to not only regard it but also use it as a tool to discriminate and oppress, their victims do not have a choice but to regard it also. To tell minorities they shouldn’t care about race is to deny them the means to describe how they’ve been wronged.
scarabic@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Exactly. Very well said. And with all respect to Mr. Freeman, he is rich and famous and enjoys a certain level of privilege in that.