Eric Holder Says Americans Are Cowardly on Race Issues

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Race and Racism, U.S. History, history by Rachel

I don’t agree with every little tidbit of his speech, but I do think he’s right. The deny, avoid, ignore pattern is so prevalent when it comes race, and it doesn’t serve the interest of racial justice at all.

Here’s a quote about Holder’s speech, and a link to the entire article:

In a speech to Justice Department employees marking Black History Month, Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.

In the speech, Holder urged people of all races to use Black History Month as a chance for honest discussion of racial matters, including issues of health care, education and economic disparities.

“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,” Holder said.

Race issues continue to be a topic of political discussion, but “we, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race.”

Holder’s speech echoed President Barack Obama’s landmark address last year on race relations during the hotly contested Democratic primaries, when the then-candidate urged the nation to break “a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years” and bemoaned the “chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.” Obama delivered the speech to try to distance himself from the angry rhetoric of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Holder cited that speech by Obama as part of the motivation for his words Wednesday, saying Americans need to overcome an ingrained inhibition against talking about race.

“If we’re going to ever make progress, we’re going to have to have the guts, we have to have the determination, to be honest with each other. It also means we have to be able to accept criticism where that is justified,” Holder told reporters after the speech.

Comments

13 Responses to “Eric Holder Says Americans Are Cowardly on Race Issues”

G. OLDBAD on February 19th, 2009 5:12 pm

I AM AN 80 YEAR OLD GRANDMOTHER, I RESENT THE FACT THERE ARE THOSE WHO ARE TRYING TO MAKE THIS AN AFFRONT TO WHITES, LISTEN TO ALL OF THIS MAN’S SPEECH, IN ESSENCE WE ARE ALL COWARDS, WE SEE AND HEAR NEGATIVE RACIAL REMARKS AND WE IGNORE THEM. THEY ARE IN THE WORKPLACE, IN OUR SCHOOLS, OUR ARMED FORCES, WHERE DO DO BUSINESS, EVEN IN OUR CHURCHES, WE CHOOSE TO IGNORE IT. SO PLEASE DO NOT THINK THIS IS MEANT FOR WHITES ONLY, ANY INTELLIGENT INDIVIDUAL WOULD KNOW THAT HE IS SPEAKING TO BOTH WHITES AND AFRICAN AMERICANS BECAUSE WE ARE ALL GUILTY AND YOU KNOW IT!!!!!
ph2072 on February 22nd, 2009 12:36 am

I KNOW he’s right. Thanks for posting about this.
ronnie brown on February 23rd, 2009 2:31 am

As a soon-to-be 51 year old Black man, I believe that we as Black folk express our collective cowardice by underplaying the deep resentment and hurt that was the product of our enslavement/segregation experience. We bite our lip when some white people try to minimize or diminish the horror of their transgressions against Blacks by insisting that we “get over it” or propagate the lie that they fought the civil war for our freedom; or derisively mock any discussion about reparations or a simple national apology.

…or reduce the magnitude of 400 years of legal institutional oppression of Black people by the United States to whites and Blacks ignoring negative racial remarks to each other in the workplace…
TierE on February 23rd, 2009 5:41 pm

*sober* I believe ronnie and G. oldbad have a point. I myself have gone too many times with underplaying or not voicing my hurt at racialized hurts. I think more minorities should brave out their opinions again common thought, even when it’s hard.
Adam on February 25th, 2009 4:11 pm

Ronnie Brown,

I hear you, man.

A good friend of mine (nearly your age) and I were recently having lunch and we were talking about the Black In America series that was being shown again on CNN. We both agreed, while interesting, that it did not go far enough is many respects. My friend said, “Adam, for those who deny that racism still exists, I wish they could walk in my shoes for just 90 days.”
ronnie brown on February 26th, 2009 11:50 am

Adam,
To my knowledge, i have never seen an analysis on slavery, segregation or general race relations that focused on the perpetrator…white society. There has been no discussion of the factors that created a white racist mindset. Why did white people find it necessary to enslave/segregate black folk?

that’s the 64,000 dollar question…

Rachel,
As much as i enjoy your blog, these questions should be laid at your feet. Discussions about the effects of racism on Black folk are certainly productive but how can we make any lasting progress if their is no comprehensive focus on the motivations of white society who drew first blood with this racism thing…
Adam on February 27th, 2009 12:53 pm

Ronnie,

There is one book I know of entitled – Neither Black Nor White: Slavery and Race Relations in Brazil and the United States by Carl Degler. It was published in 1971. This author does a comparative study of segregation and racism in the two countries. He touches on white supermacy as well.

But as far as the historical or critical examination of Eurocentricism/Western-White Superiority itself, I have not seen any body of work that focuses soley on this. Most of what I have read on white supermacy is from the standpoint of African-American, African, Latin American, and various Asian scholars.

Do you think an undertaking such as this should be done by someone of European/Anglo-Caucasian descent?

You may have given me an idea for a thesis in the future!
ronnie brown on February 28th, 2009 2:14 am

Adam,
I’ve had my fill of scholar/activists who only focus on white supremacy’s effect on Black people. I want all those who declare themselves to be well-meaning white people to turn the spotlight on THEMSELVES…to offer up a comprehensive analysis of what makes THEM tick. Since white racism is a global phenomenon, wouldn’t it be refreshing to find out what are the factors that produce this notion of “superiority”?…that drive their compulsion to exclude, to dominate simply because they have white skin…

such an undertaking should be done by someone of Caucasian descent…whether it be by a professor, activist, blogger, politician, whatever…if they dare!
Adam on March 3rd, 2009 6:53 pm

Ronnie Brown,

I know what a you are getting at –

You might be interested to know that there is one contemporary work that comes close:

The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege, City Lights Books, 2005. Professor Robert Jensen (a white person) at the University of Texas goes into some depth. Have you heard of him?

Let me ask you this? Do you think the psychology and sociology behind global white supermacy (mainly Eurocentric supremacy and domination) in the last 400-500 years would be any different altogether from what we have seen in history in China, the Persian Empire, Roman Empire etc.

Perhaps it is question of whether anyone would dare classify the Western European/American/Canadian/Australian entities as one Empire?
Nquest2xl on March 3rd, 2009 11:05 pm

RB: “I’ve had my fill of scholar/activists who only focus on white supremacy’s effect on Black people.”

I’ve had encounters with a scholar/activist/blogger who confuses focusing the spotlight on Whites/Whiteness with focusing on the effect racism/White Supremacy has on non-white people. In fact, he even came up with the rationale that he couldn’t deal with Whites/Whiteness in “isolation” to focusing on how Black people and non-white people are effected by the racist things White people do which he asserted was, more or less, his purpose for talking about how racism affects on People of Color (how POC feel about racist acts/slights committed by Whites).

To be clear, his focus on POC became an issue when he either created his own ideas about what POC thought or misinterpreted things POC thought. What occurred after this White scholar/activist/blogger assumption/assertion errors regarding what POC think was, ironically, nothing to the person’s compulsion dominate and assert or, rather, protect their sense of (white skin) superiority because there was just no way a White scholar/activist/blogger of his reputation could have formed his/her ideas improperly and certainly no way anyone (a POC) could tell him/her that they were either privy to information as a POC that s/he was not or could argue that the White scholar/activist/blogger couldn’t possible know/come up with the idea he attributed to POC.

I said all that to say this: there are a lot of Whites who either have no concept of what a comprehensive analysis of themselves entails and others who aren’t about to even try to embark on that journey because the old molds of positioning themselves as great white benefactors for POC or the white person who is not like “those” white people are just too comfortable and too common. I think it probably difficult for the avg. white person to turn the spotlight on themselves because the whole tide of their socialization feeds them into those old molds of white (liberal) thought about race/racism, subconsciously or otherwise.
ronnie brown on March 4th, 2009 2:42 am

Adam,
I’m familiar with Jensen’s work. He scratched the surface, but left me feeling that he wasn’t in it for the long hall.

Secondly, trying to decode the last 500 years of global white supremacy is enough work for 3 generations of analysis…how it relates to previous empires is above my pay grade. We have enough trouble coming to grips with America’s history since 1619!
Adam on March 5th, 2009 12:27 pm

Yeah…above my pay grade too.

Still, your idea is both thoughtful and excellent.

Here is a little ray of light from a thoughtful white history professor down in Georgia. It is entitled: When are we going to get over it? (I posted a rather emotional response to it…but I could not help it.)

http://www.blacklegalissues.com/Article_Details.ASPX?ARTCLID=92720b54b4&cat=Legal

Hey Prof Rachel: You might find this professor’s article worth posting here.
Miss Profe on March 10th, 2009 1:12 am

Well, I think there’s enough cowardice to go around, for every race. We either perpetrate, or are complicit.