"A Nation of Cowards"

I'm not sure whether Attorney General Eric Holder is ignorant or dishonest. (My cynicism puts its money on deliberate stupidity.)

In a speech last week, Holder 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." He also said that "we, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race." and that America today frequently "does not ... differ significantly from the country that existed some 50 years ago."

No one with eyes and a brain can possibly say this country "does not ... differ significantly from the country that existed some 50 years ago." Fifty years ago, the Democratic Party in Congress was still blocking anti-lynching legislation, and blacks and Hispanics were second-class citizens at best. Fifty years ago, the civil rights movement was barely under way and the Civil Rights Act was still five years in the future. Fifty years ago, there were still "Whites Only" water fountains, and signs in this state saying "No Dogs Or Mexicans". Somehow, Eric Holder thinks that's still the way it is.

At least in this part of the country, there are two reasons race isn't a big topic of discussion.

• The main reason is that, most of the time, race is simply not an issue.

• The minor secondary reason is the concern that you will be attacked by the race-baiters and professional grievance-mongers if you don't preach their gospel.

Somehow I doubt this state is all that different from the rest of the country. Seems to me it's just Eric Holder.