Straight Talk from a Great American Actor

I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history....

I am going to stop calling you a white man and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man.

--from Freeman Criticizes Black History Month

When I was filling out some citizenship papers for my newborn son, I decided not to answer the question about race, which was labelled "optional." The form was returned to me and some government functionary had checked the box and had decided upon a race for my son, much to my dismay.

My extended family, for what its worth, has descendants from Shem, Ham and Japheth, and various combinations thereof.