He asked her the wrong question about racism. And her answer is flawless.
Do you know how often people of color get asked about racism? A lot. It's about time someone flipped the question on its head. Who better than the gifted Toni Morrison?
Prolific, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Toni Morrison gets asked about race a lot.
Because her work unapologetically tells the stories of African-Americans, from an African-American point of view, she expects questions about race in America to come up quite often.
But she has also often expressed frustration with the type of questions that she regularly gets asked: questions that, she has observed, never get asked of white authors who tell the stories of white people.
Time and time again, Ms. Morrison gracefully responds to such questions with mic-dropping wisdom.
This interview with Charlie Rose is no exception.
Here, Charlie innocently asks her about her feelings about racism as an African-American.
Her answer not only flips the question on its head by reminding us of just how sick racism really is ...
... but it also makes clear who shares some serious responsibility in ending racism.