A Frank Conversation about Race

By Mark W. Hendrickson

Shortly after taking office in 2009, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder declared that Americans are "a nation of cowards" about race. We "simply do not talk enough with each other about things racial." Well, I've been told that you can't write about race without making somebody angry, but I think self-censorship can be the greater mistake. So here goes, Mr. Holder: First, Mr. Holder himself has not helped race relations by the way he has conducted himself as attorney general. It was a travesty when Holder dropped charges of voter intimidation against a couple of black men who, by brandishing clubs and directing vile racial epithets, unmistakably intimidated white voters in what multiple legal experts called "an open-and-shut case." I don't believe that Martin Luther King, Jr. marched so that blacks could violate the rights of whites with impunity. Unless I am wrong about Dr. King, Holder dishonored his legacy. Yes, earlier generations of white Americans disenfranchised blacks, but retaliating in kind today can do nothing to right the wrongs.... (Read Full Article)