Of all the op-eds I’ve read in the past couple weeks about Attorney General Eric Holder’s inane statement – “Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial, we have always been, and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards.” – the one that succinctly sums up why the statement is counterproductive (not to mention absurd) was written by Kevin Ferris, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist.
Ferris notes the contradiction between Holder calling for unity while calling white Americans cowards, apparently because they’re not talking about skin color the way he thinks they should. An excerpt:
“Where exactly does the ‘nation of cowards’ remark fall – under advancing us or dividing us even further? I’d vote for the latter…And how oddly timed. The country just elected its first black president. No other nation in the world has ever elected to its highest office a member of a racial minority that was subject to legal segregation just 50 years earlier. Yet this is a nation of cowards? Because average Americans aren’t ‘comfortable enough with one another…to have frank conversations about the racial matters that continue to divide us’?”
As expected, Holder brought up race preferences in his speech. He said the discussion over the issue tends to focus on the “extreme.” Ferris notes – and I agree – that Holder likely was referring to those who oppose race preferences for the illegal and demeaning policies they are. Holder’s desire for an “honest” dialogue about race is misguided at best and disingenuous at worst. What he and others like him actually want is for white Americans to sit still, pipe down, listen to an endless list of grievances about racial disparities and so-called institutional racism, genuflect before the god of diversity, and offer guilt-laden apologies. And more money for government programs.
An honest dialogue about race would require all sides to candidly discuss existing problems and examine themselves before blaming others. An honest dialogue about race would acknowledge biases that may exist, but also behaviors that might cause or confirm those biases. An honest dialogue about race would include a discussion about family structure (or lack thereof) and its effect on racial disparities.
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