Watch Author Toni Morrison Calling Out An Aussie Journalist For A “Powerfully Racist” Question
The clip has gone viral after Morrison passed away yesterday, aged 88.
Legendary author Toni Morrison, has died aged 88.
Morrison is best known for her novels The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, and Beloved. Over the course of her career, she gathered honours such as the Pulitzer prize, the Nobel prize, the Légion d’Honneur, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom. She is known for chronicling and speaking out about the African-American experience.
In the wake of her passing, a clip from Australian television has resurfaced, in which Morrison powerfully calls out a question for inherent racism.
In the interview with journalist Jana Wendt in 1998, Wendt asked the author when she would “incorporate white lives” into her books “in a substantial way.”
“You can’t understand how powerfully racist that question is, can you?” she asked. “You could never ask a white author, ‘When are you going to write about black people?’ Whether he did or not, or she did or not. Even the inquiry comes from a position of being in the centre.”
Watch it here, it’s pretty powerful.
One of my favorite interviews with Toni Morrison. The interviewer asked her when she was going to “substantially” write about white people. Her response? “You can’t understand how powerfully racist that question is, can you?” pic.twitter.com/WFhNMgx7xv
— Paul McCallion (@OrangePaulp) August 6, 2019
The clip has since gone viral, with people remembering Morrison for her wit and power.
The level of respect and honesty in her words are qualities we should all strive to exemplify in our daily lives. She confronted a racist question without rage, though rage be warranted. Just… wow.
— DoveWithClaws (@EatTheRichH8ers) August 6, 2019
That smirk before she goes in ??
— Jamie (@JayElHarris) August 6, 2019
You see how it isn’t about scoring a point back on the interviewer either? She’s trying to educate this woman, and therefore all of us watching to understand it from the other side of the glass.
— Dorinda Gear (@DorindaDorinda) August 6, 2019