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Yes I do, Charlie, but let me tell you,
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that's the wrong question.
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[Charlie Rose] OK What's the right question?
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[Toni Morrison] How do you feel?
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Not you, Charlie Rose,
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but don't you understand
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that the people who do this thing,
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who practice racism,
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are bereft, there is something distorted about the psyche?
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It's a huge waste, and it's a corruption
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and a distortion.
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It's like it's a profound neurosis
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that nobody examines for what it is.
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It feels crazy.
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It is crazy.
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And it leaves,
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it has just as much of a deliterious effect on white people;
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and possibly equal as it does black people.
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I always knew that I had the moral high ground.
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All my life.
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I always thought those people
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who said I couldn't come in the drugstore,
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I had to sit in this funny place,
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I couldn't go in the park...
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[Charlie Rose cuts in] You felt morally superior to them from day one.
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[Toni Morrison] I did.
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And I thought they knew that I knew that they were inferior to me, morally.
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I always thought that.
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And my parents always thought that.
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[Charlie Rose] You said your your father was racist cause he always felt like he was superior...
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[Toni Mossison] That's right, he always felt superior,
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and that was a form, you know, of defensive racism.
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But if the racist white person -
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I don't mean a person who is examining his consciousness and so on
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- doesn't understand that he or she is also a race,
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it's also constructed,
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it's also made,
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and it also has some kind of serviceability,
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but when you take it away,
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like take your race away,
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and there you are all strung out,
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and all you got is your little self,
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and what is that?
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What are you without racism?
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Are ya any good?
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Are ya still strong?
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Still smart?
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You still like yourself?
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I mean, these are the questions,
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part of it is, "yes, the victim, how terrible it's been for black people..."
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I'm not a victim.
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I refuse to be one.
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[Charlie Rose] And the victim is the other person who is morally inferior...
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[Toni Morrison] That's a serious question... of course! ...
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[Charlie Rose] ...& who has to hold onto racism to somehow for his or her own self esteem & definition
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[Toni Morrison] If you can only be tall because somebody's on their knees,
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then you have a serious problem.
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And my feeling is, white people have a very very serious problem.
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And they should start thinking about what they can do about it.
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Take me out of it.
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[Charlie Rose] Then give white people some free advice.
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[Toni Morrison] They're all in my books [both laughing].
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[Charlie Rose] And the advice is... [cuts off]