Today's Evil Beet Gossip

Quotables: Morgan Freeman Says President Obama Isn’t Black Enough

photo of morgan freeman pictures god photo

“America’s first Black president hasn’t arisen yet. He [President Obama] is not America’s first Black president – he’s America’s first mixed-race president. First thing that pops into my head regarding our president is that all of the people who are setting up this barrier…they just conveniently forget that Barack had a mama, and she was white – very white American, Kansas, middle of America.”

So, wait a second. Am I to surmise that Morgan Freeman is claiming that our President isn’t *really* black, because he had a white mother? Are we really going to start using the paper bag test to determine how black or non-black someone really is? Because if we are … oh my God, I am so out of here.

I realize that Freeman was, more than likely, referring to the fact that some people use the race card against President Obama and claim that they don’t want a “black President,” but unless his comments were more tongue-in-cheek (and I don’t know, because I didn’t listen to the NPR interview on which he spoke), what the hell. I just … I can’t even. I have no doubts that Morgan continues to support the President, as he has in the past, but I’m going to go ahead and say that most Americans aren’t going to see it that way when they hear what Morgan has had to say about Obama’s “true” race and ethnicity.

I mean, come on. Is the President supposed to go around saying, “No, you’re mistaken—I’m actually white“? Because really. Yeah, Obama had a white mother and a black father, but if we’re going strictly by appearances, President Barack Obama is clearly a black man. And to what end?

I just can’t believe we’re even discussing this. I can’t believe that Morgan Freeman would even open this can of worms, knowing what kind of pot he’d be stirring in saying that President Obama isn’t, in fact, the first black American President.

You know, until DNA testing becomes mandatory for every citizen of the United States, up to and including each and every American Presidential candidate, we won’t really know who’s of mixed heritage and who isn’t, you know? If this is the card we’re going to play, hell. I mean, even Abraham Lincoln could have been half- or a quarter-black and we wouldn’t have known. Damn. Why the hell do we, as AMERICANS (and far less in other countries around the world) have to label ourselves and make sure everyone knows exactly who or what we are in every single circumstance anyway? What in hell is that solving, anyhow?

I’m just going to leave you with one little gem here, an excerpt from an interview that Morgan himself made a few years back about racism in the United States:

… Freeman went on to say that talking about race is what keeps bigotry alive. He said he’d prefer if people called him just “a man” instead of “a Black man,” and that the only way to defeat racism is to “stop talking about it.”

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  • Oh, please, don’t give the Romney-ites anything to work with. Morgan, you should know better.

    • Exactly how and or why should Morgan know better? The point he has been trying to make all these years is simple, everyone stop playing the race card. In one interview with some discourse on Black History Month, he said thusly; Black history is American history. I will admit, I’ve grown weary of both parties. These neo-liberals are not Kennedy Democrats and the neo-conservatives are not Reagan Republicans. I watched as the political party of my father was hijacked by Bill Clinton, in which his wife was complicit, when they looted the coffers of the DNC to pay his damn legal bills. Had Clinton pulled an Andrew Dice Clay and said “yeah, I fucked her” id have tipped my hat and said thanks, you deal with God and your wife, but you and I are square. Sorry to digress…. I guess the heats getting to me, but I fully agree with Morgan Freemans position.

  • Well, race is always a sticky point, isn’t it?

    Bear in mind that this is a criminally short post on a very deep topic.

    Morgan Freeman’s statement wasn’t meant to be literal. He was trying to say that he felt that Obama didn’t represent black American’s viewpoint. In this, I feel he is correct.

    I think Morgan’s first quote was better until the powers-that-be hammered him back into place. Race should be a non-issue.

    The powers that be, in this instance, are those special interest groups that gain advantage in keeping the “race card” alive and well. Some of this is understandable if you view the idea from their standpoint. If they feel that their race won’t get fair treatment without special rules, then they will do what they need to do to ensure that happens.

    Like the LGBT community, SOME (a minority in my view) black people feel that their special status is advantageous, and it currently is. But the backlash happens when it is used (typically by the media and those self-same interest groups) for race-baiting. It helps keep those people in power and money, at the expense of everyone else. Does it help, though? I guess in some ways it does. I feel that those short-term gains aren’t worth the long-term damage though.

    Does discrimination still exist? You bet your butt it does … and also on ALL sides from ALL groups (money, race, sexual preference and so on). People don’t talk about that part much though.

    Almost everyone I’ve spoken with wish race would just go away. It really is a non-issue. The actual cure is … just go hang around the different groups. There are no significant differences between ANY race, ethnicity, religion, sexual preference, or cat and dog owners. There aren’t any. People are people.

    What people REALLY mean when they speak about race is … ethnicity. Now, those we have in abundance.

    And I argue everyone should study history; as Burke said: “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”

    Remembering their heritage (or learning others) is a good thing, as long as they remember that the past is the past and keep bad things from happening again.

    From a black point of view, they’ve had a lot of horrible crap heaped on their heads over the years. Stuff you might not know. Stuff that you would’ve considered a war crime. Some of it within living memory.

    It takes a lot of time to heal these wounds and most white ethnicities are clumsily equipped to handle it. All four quadrants (socialist, capitalist, conservative, and radical) have horrid problems. People, in general, are piss-poor at social integration issues. They (mostly) don’t mean to cause trouble, but they do.

    All groups have a problem with people outside our own groups because we divide ourselves into social groups by default. Lessening those groupings (money, skin color, hair color, birth place, you name it) is flying in the face of sociology, but it can be done through education. The ONLY way to get that is to BE with each other.

    “All” that we need is a dollop of understanding and patience.

  • Sarah,

    Mr. Freeman does have a valid point. Our President is of mixed race. I’m not talking about the fact that one of your great great grandparents had a mulatto baby with a slave. We are talking about immediate family members, mother and father, who are of a different race.

    The laws back in the day required that a person be labeled as black if they had an ounce of African American blood. Those labels were used to denigrate and shame and promote political agendas.

    As a child of a bi-racial union, I agree with the comments. Just because you perceive that I look a certain way does not mean that is what I am. It does not mean that I choose to ignore the fact that my mother is white and gave birth to me. It does count for something, but it doesn’t have to mean everything.

    If you would take a minute to stop getting so offended at every comment made by someone who disagrees with your ultra liberal standpoint, then perhaps you would actually appear to make some rational, fact-based assertions.

    There is nothing wrong with being proud of your race, heritage or culture. It doesn’t mean that you are anti-anything, just proud of where you come from and who you are.

    Please think about your responses a bit more before you begin your daily rampage. This blog is getting tiresome.

  • Maybe he thinks he should have sex with his granddaughter and get in more drunken-driving accidents.

    • LOL that’s from the National Enquirer and E’dena (sp?) is his step-grandaughter. They aren’t blood related.

      His wife did divorce him and a long-term mistress did leave him.

      He did crash his Nissan but wasn’t charged with DUI. He had blood work done that day, so his alcohol must’ve been within tolerances. The female passenger with him (I forget her name) sued him and SAID he was drinking.

      Any of the above _may_ be true, but how does that relate to what he said?

  • Chew on this. My beloved President (yes, I’m going to be one of the people who re-elects him) who is half-white and half-black has little in common with John and Jane Doe Afro-American. President Obama doesn’t have one single ancestor who was a slave, period. Most Afro-Americans can trace their ancestors back to slaves. They have carried forward the stories that were told to them by their parents, grand-parents, etc. and this creates a very real kind of limbic cultural “historical baggage” that the President doesn’t have. His father and his father’s father et.al., were never slaves and his mother was white. I don’t know why I bring this up. I’m sure President Obama experienced instances of racism in his life. It sort of popped into my head when I read the whole Morgan Freeman thing. I get what he was trying to say, I’m just wondering why he said it. Maybe it just popped into his head.

  • Obama is the nation’s first mulatto president. Period.
    @Philip: that was just mean.

  • Honestly, I feel that this really is a non issue. The real issue is his failed presidency. Cash for Clunkers, Ignoring BP’s Deepwater Horizon fiasco for almost 3 months, Obamacare now projected to cost around 3 Trillion dollars at outset as opposed to 90 million, Solyndra, Ener1, Fiskars Automotive in FINLAND, not even america except for 27 salespeople.
    Overtaxation, 58% Deathtax so you cannot leave squat to your kids, more golf played in 3 years that Bush did in 8, more vacations in 3 years than Bush had in 8, Deficit spending at a historic rate of all prior presidents combined done in 3 years. Sending guns to Mexico so they can blame it on American gunshops and causing the death of 2 border patrol agents. Hundreds of people killed in Mexico from government arms trafficking, The most un-transparent whitehouse in history whyle claiming to be the most transparent. Bowing to dictators on a world apology tour. August 2011 earned the moniker “President 0” for not creating a single job for that quarter. Touting job increased numbers for themnation because he hired 14 whitehouse additional staff. Implemented pay raises for whitehouse staff in June of 2012, whyle all federal workers are supposed to wait until January for any pay increases, therefore after 6 months they get an additional salary increase. Signing into law on Dec. 31 the ability to hold americans in prison indefinitely without due process, or informing relatives. Bush Era tax cuts to be extended for 1year for those making less than $250K, however on 1Jan 2014 even they drop off. Lest we not forget about Taxmageddon starting in 2013 as well, effectively taxing even the most very poor of this country by 36% effective by 1Jan 2013.
    Snubbing U.S. Allies such as Germany, and Israel, whyle Begging Achmedinejad for our spy drone back pretty please, Gifting the African Union 3 Billion dollars in 2010. Giving North Korea, our sworn enemy 1000 Hewlett Packer Desktop Computers as a gift. Allowing North Korea to use those same US Taxpayer computers for cyberattacks on western interests.
    The list goes on and on. This is an unmitigated disaster. Anyone cought up with his skin color is clearly falling for the race card ruce. Personally, I wish he were green so we could cash him im and get our money back.
    The problem is his crafty checkbook, not his skin color. Get back on focus. Think Jobs, Think Constitution and Bill of Rights, think about the National Debt this year exceeding our GDP.
    Please America, focus on his actions!!!!!!