Nathan Scandella (personal)

I am Not a Coward, Eric

Eric Holder was quoted as saying that we are a nation of cowards, with respect to being willing to talk about racial issues:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/18/holder.race.relations/index.html

Well, I'd like to disagree. First of all, let's read between the lines and see what Holder might be getting at. I don't think anyone can make the argument that Black America is too cowardly to talk about race. Sometimes, I wish black leaders would find something else to talk about, aside from race. This was, in fact, Holder's first major speech as Attorney General. And seeing as how Attorney General of the United States is a pretty important job, you have all kinds of important issues like torture, prosecuting the Bush Administration, crooks on Wall St., and privacy rights in the digital age to talk about. But, this speech wound up making headlines because of race. So, we'll assume that Holder isn't completely self-unaware, or blind, and isn't talking about Black America.

He was saying that White and Asian Americans are the cowards. Now, if he had said, "many Americans are reluctant to talk about race", that would be one thing. But, he choose to use the word cowards, which carries a pretty strong connotation. Well, let me enlighten you, Eric. Educated, ambitious Black American males don't live in the same world as the rest of us. You have the ability to say whatever you want, whenever you want, with no repercussions. Want to make a racist remark? Ok. How about sexist? That's ok, too. You're a successful black man, and you have complete immunity under the laws of Political Correctness. The rest of us, however, have to tread carefully, because of the sensitivity of the issue, as defined by Black America. See Roland Martin's column today about a political cartoon he felt offensive.

Before leveling such a strong criticism of the rest of us in this area, Eric, why don't you try living in the world where people are actually held accountable for the subtle meanings of their words.

Posted at 11:35PM Feb 18, 2009 by Nathan in General  |  Comments[0]