The actor also criticized Black History Month
An interview from Morgan Freeman to the British newspaper Times has generated controversy for the statements of the 85-year-old actor. Black said he doesn’t like being called “African American” (which refers to Americans with African ancestry) and added that the term is an “insult.” Freeman also criticized Black History Month, celebrated in February in the United States, which would also be “an insult”.
In the interview, Freeman said, “Even ‘African American’ is an insult. I don’t identify with that term. Black people have been called names other than the ‘N-word’ (serious racial slur in the English language) and I don’t know how these things are so popular, but everyone uses ‘African American’. What does that really mean? Most black people in this part of the world are mixed race.”
He compared the term to other titles, such as Irish-American or Italian-American, which refer to the country rather than the continent, as in “African American”. “You say Africa is a country when it’s a continent, like Europe.” Freeman even exemplified that people speak “Italian-American” and not “Euro-American.”
Of Black History Month, the actor said, “That’s offensive. Are you going to relegate my story to one month?”
Despite this, the Oscar winner declared himself proud to be black and agreed with a speech by colleague Denzel Washington, who said: “I’m very proud to be black, but black is not all that I am.”
This isn’t the first controversy involving Morgan Freeman and racial issues. In 2005 he declared that the only way to end racism was not to talk about it. Often the video of the speech is shared on social media to reduce racial guidelines. However, in 2020, Freeman used his social media to give a voice to the “Black Lives Matter” (Vidas Negras Importam) movement. In an Instagram post, he captioned: “Fighting for equality is a celebration of independence. Fighting for black lives is a celebration of independence.”
Source: Terra
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