WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Eric Holder described the United States Wednesday as a nation of cowards on matters of race, saying most Americans avoid discussing unresolved racial issues.
| Usually because when we do there's someone in the crowd who starts screaming and calling people names. That does rather tend to inhibit deep conversation. |
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. "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," said Holder, nation's first black attorney general.
Race issues continue to be a topic of political discussion, Holder said, but "we, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race."
| He doesn't want us to talk about race. He wants us to do as we're told. There's a difference ... |
He urged people of all races to use Black History Month as a chance for frank talk about & blah blah blah. |