WHO ARE YOU CALLING A COWARD, MISTER ATTORNEY GENERAL?

ERIC HOLDER, THE FIRST (pick one: black, Black, African-American) ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES SAID YESTERDAY THAT AMERICANS ARE RACIAL "COWARDS" BECAUSE WE DO NOT TALK ENOUGH ABOUT RACE. Really?

Actually we talk too damned much about it, and that is the whole damned problem. There has been far more talk about the fact that he is the first Black (We will pick THAT term, thank you) AG and Obama is the first Black President than about what either is actually doing. In light of the current and varied shenannigans it is not surprising that Holder would try to change the subject. What am I supposed to do? walk up to the postman and say: "hey, Frank; you know, I just realized that you're Black and maybe w ought to talk about that"? Frank would certainly think white folks is sho'crazy if I did.

There is a distinct Black community and culture in the United States and it has its class divisions and differences in style and regionality much as White (or for that matter any other) culture in this country does. American culture is an amalgam of all of these. But NASCAR fans do not generally listen to chamber music, and fans of hip-hop don't generally dig famed Black opera singer Jessye Norman's (no relation) work. I myself am white but I smoke Kools and drink Steel Reserve 211; and I love NC style ribs, fried chicken, and watermelon; but I am not going to go see Chuck Brown tonight or for that matter any other night. And one of these days somebody is going to pull up next to me blasting that "rap" crapola and I will tie him to a chair and force him to watch old "Hee-Haw" an "Midwestern Hayride" episodes.

I'd like to ask Eric if there are any white folks present where he gets his hair cut. Because you see, the two most segregated places in America are Church on Sunday and the barber shop any day. And the most integrated are the rib joint and the donut shop. And that is just the way it is.

Nobody is being a coward when they don't spend all day wringing their hands and taking about race. Oh, it is an aspect of our common culture that we have to deal with, but the common wealth and good require us to recognize that there are a good many things even MORE important that affect us all. Constant absorption with race is a distraction. But perhaps that is what Eric Holder was aiming at.