0:00:01.324,0:00:03.548
Yes I do, Charlie, but let me tell you,
0:00:03.548,0:00:05.141
that's the wrong question.
0:00:05.141,0:00:06.500
[Charlie Rose] OK What's the right question?
0:00:06.500,0:00:08.754
[Toni Morrison] How do you feel?
0:00:08.754,0:00:10.133
Not you, Charlie Rose,
0:00:10.133,0:00:11.567
but don't you understand
0:00:11.567,0:00:13.733
that the people who do this thing,
0:00:13.733,0:00:15.673
who practice racism,
0:00:15.673,0:00:20.962
are bereft, there is something distorted about the psyche?
0:00:20.962,0:00:24.915
It's a huge waste, and it's a corruption
0:00:24.915,0:00:26.865
and a distortion.
0:00:26.865,0:00:29.567
It's like it's a profound neurosis
0:00:29.567,0:00:31.800
that nobody examines for what it is.
0:00:31.800,0:00:33.033
It feels crazy.
0:00:33.033,0:00:34.700
It is crazy.
0:00:34.700,0:00:36.387
And it leaves,
0:00:36.387,0:00:43.367
it has just as much of a deliterious effect on white people;
0:00:43.367,0:00:48.014
and possibly equal as it does black people.
0:00:48.014,0:00:50.354
I always knew that I had the moral high ground.
0:00:50.354,0:00:52.202
All my life.
0:00:52.202,0:00:53.590
I always thought those people
0:00:53.590,0:00:55.287
who said I couldn't come in the drugstore,
0:00:55.287,0:00:56.900
I had to sit in this funny place,
0:00:56.900,0:00:58.133
I couldn't go in the park...
0:00:58.133,0:00:59.433
[Charlie Rose cuts in] You felt morally superior to them from day one.
0:00:59.433,0:01:00.444
[Toni Morrison] I did.
0:01:00.444,0:01:05.178
And I thought they knew that I knew that they were inferior to me, morally.
0:01:05.178,0:01:06.429
I always thought that.
0:01:06.429,0:01:08.138
And my parents always thought that.
0:01:08.138,0:01:10.667
[Charlie Rose] You said your your father was racist cause he always felt like he was superior...
0:01:10.667,0:01:12.864
[Toni Mossison] That's right, he always felt superior,
0:01:12.864,0:01:17.433
and that was a form, you know, of defensive racism.
0:01:17.433,0:01:20.667
But if the racist white person -
0:01:20.667,0:01:25.200
I don't mean a person who is examining his consciousness and so on
0:01:25.200,0:01:29.567
- doesn't understand that he or she is also a race,
0:01:29.567,0:01:31.418
it's also constructed,
0:01:31.418,0:01:33.667
it's also made,
0:01:33.667,0:01:36.033
and it also has some kind of serviceability,
0:01:36.033,0:01:38.167
but when you take it away,
0:01:38.167,0:01:39.998
like take your race away,
0:01:39.998,0:01:41.756
and there you are all strung out,
0:01:41.756,0:01:44.133
and all you got is your little self,
0:01:44.133,0:01:47.067
and what is that?
0:01:47.067,0:01:49.510
What are you without racism?
0:01:49.510,0:01:51.333
Are ya any good?
0:01:51.333,0:01:52.567
Are ya still strong?
0:01:52.567,0:01:53.900
Still smart?
0:01:53.900,0:01:54.900
You still like yourself?
0:01:54.900,0:01:56.000
I mean, these are the questions,
0:01:56.000,0:02:01.767
part of it is, "yes, the victim, how terrible it's been for black people..."
0:02:01.767,0:02:04.167
I'm not a victim.
0:02:04.167,0:02:05.600
I refuse to be one.
0:02:05.600,0:02:08.033
[Charlie Rose] And the victim is the other person who is morally inferior...
0:02:08.033,0:02:11.733
[Toni Morrison] That's a serious question... of course! ...
0:02:11.733,0:02:15.400
[Charlie Rose] ...& who has to hold onto racism to somehow for his or her own self esteem & definition
0:02:15.502,0:02:19.600
[Toni Morrison] If you can only be tall because somebody's on their knees,
0:02:19.600,0:02:21.600
then you have a serious problem.
0:02:21.600,0:02:28.867
And my feeling is, white people have a very very serious problem.
0:02:28.867,0:02:34.000
And they should start thinking about what they can do about it.
0:02:34.000,0:02:36.267
Take me out of it.
0:02:36.267,0:02:39.400
[Charlie Rose] Then give white people some free advice.
0:02:39.400,0:02:42.600
[Toni Morrison] They're all in my books [both laughing].
0:02:42.600,9:59:59.000
[Charlie Rose] And the advice is... [cuts off]