By TIME Staff
Comedian Chris Rock isn’t one to shy away from conversations about race. In a new video for Essence, the Top Five star sounds off on a topic that’s of particular interest this February: Black History Month. “Black History Month is in the shortest month of the year, and the coldest—just in case we want to have a parade,” Rock says.
And though Rock jokes about February being the one month that black is “in,” in the two-minute clip he also reflects on the prejudice and racism African-Americans faced in the Jim Crow South around the time he was born in South Carolina.
“I was born in ’65 in South Carolina,” Rock says. “We were not mixed up with white babies.”
Watch the full video at Essence.com
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