Attorney General Eric Holder, speaking today to Department of Justice employees, said, “Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards.”
Score one for civility.
Can Holder really be serious? First of all, if you’re going to call people cowards, don’t add so many qualifiers – “I believe” … “in too many ways” … “essentially.” That sort of hedging might come off as sort of, you know, cowardly.
Second, if your goal is to encourage more honest discussion about race, why use loaded language? According to the AP, Holder said President Obama’s speech on race last year inspired his remarks today. I don’t recall Obama calling anyone a coward – let alone using that word to describe the whole nation throughout its history (essentially, in too many ways).
Holder elaborated: “If we are to make progress in this area, we must feel comfortable enough with one another and tolerant enough of each other to have frank conversations about the racial matters that continue to divide us.”
Getting comfortable and exhibiting tolerance don’t usually start with one person calling the rest of the country cowards (I believe, essentially).
Holder was simply trying to be provocative for the sake of being provocative – of getting noticed. Funny, though. I don’t recall him making similar comments before his confirmation. Waiting until after the Senate votes to drop some inflammatory rhetoric might be, I believe, considered, by some, to be, essentially, cowardly.
If the AG wants to have a serious discussion about race in America, he ought to offer some serious ideas about how “things racial” are understood, misconstrued, manipulated, defined, and expressed in our culture – and the chilling effect of political correctness.
Holder’s speech did, in fact, include a couple of discussion-worthy points. But by launching his “coward” comment right up front, he made it difficult to take his remarks seriously.
