American actor, Morgan Freeman, 85, has branded Black History Month and the ‘African-American’ term an ‘insult’ in a rare interview.
The ‘A Good Person’ actor said that the annual event which is observed every February to celebrate the cultural achievement of black people, has a negative connotation to him because it ‘relegates’ the entire of his heritage to a single set of four weeks.
Addressing the racism remarks in the interview, he told The Sunday Time’s Culture Magazine: ‘Two things I can say publicly that I do not like: Black History Month is an insult. You’re going to relegate my history to a month?’
He also went on to question the true definition of ‘African-American’, which has been used to describe black Americans since the 1700s.
He added: ‘Also “African-American” is an insult. I don’t subscribe to that title. 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? 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.’
Black History Month, an annual celebration that takes place in October in the UK and in February in the US, is a way of remembering important people and events in the history of the African diaspora.
