Every year there are 30,000 gun deaths and 300,000 gun-related assaults in the U.S.," he said. "Firearm violence may cost our country as much as $100 billion a year. Toys are regulated with greater care and safety concerns than guns ... we have become so gun loving, so blasé about home-grown violence that in my lifetime alone, far more Americans have been casualties of domestic gunfire than have died in all our wars combined.
These weapons are military weapons. They belong in accountable hands, controlled hands and trained hands. They should not be in the hands of private citizens to be used against police, neighborhood intruders or people who don’t agree with you. These are the weapons that maniacs acquire to wreak murder and mayhem on innocents. They are not the same as handguns to help homeowners protect themselves from intruders. They are not the same as hunting rifles or sporting rifles. These weapons are designed for harm and death on big scales.
Morgan Freeman doesn't want a Black History Month because "Black History is American History."
On Sixty Minutes, Mike Wallace asked Freeman how we could solve America's race problem? Freeman's answer: "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 like this approach immensely, since there is no scientific basis for "race." I also offer a slightly different suggestion: All of us should acknowledge that we are all from Africa. Whenever people ask me about my ancestors, I tell I'm "African," because it is true, despite my outward appearance.
Specialists in race, both geneticists and anthropologists, maintain that modern ideas of race are . . . primarily historical constructions that reflect the pattern of contact between previously distinct populations in the colonial period.
Given recent findings, though, I shouldn't merely say that I'm "African." I should add, "With a touch of Neanderthal." And I should add one more thing to be even more accurate: I'm a descendant of many other critters, including sponges, fungi and bacteria.
It's amazing how so many of us still put any emphasis on "race." It's time to admit that it was a ridiculous category to create in the first place, and that it has caused only mischief ever since. The characteristics associated with "race" are a infinitesimally small part of what it means to be a physical human being. It's time to bring our culture in line with our physical reality.
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