“a nation of cowards”...? wo-ah eric, that’s pretty steep!
in a past age, a speech of this order would have been proscribed, banned, deemed un-american (read: damn communist), or perhaps, just ignored. as you might expect, it came from a black man. but not just any ole’ black man, it came from the attorney general of the united states, the nation’s chief law enforcement honcho.
arguably, america has been bequeathed a legacy of race and bigotry like no other people. parenthetically, as michelle obama observed, her new house was build by slaves. indeed, race, like blood, runs deep in the veins of america.
acculturation, assimilation, desegregation, affirmative action, are all among the many tags that come to mind as america has struggled to reconcile the ideal that “all men were created equal” with a judeo-christian heritage where god wasn’t color blind.
it has taken brave men and women in this young nation to address and try to break the chains of the racial divide, and america can be proud of its resilience and ability to move forward. america carries the heavy burden of race and hate better than most. however flawed.
unlike britain, or any other european colonial nation, the united states cannot stand accused of hypocrisy. it has done more than most to rectify an unjust legal framework and open its paramount institutions as vehicles for racial change.
the united states armed forces is a case in point. it would be impossible to imagine a general colin powell (incidentally, knight commander of the order of the bath and the son of a british subject) being able to go so far in the british army, much less a high representative statesman of her majesty’s government.
eric holder has not (re)ignited the racial debate. he is honest rather than angry; optimistic over incriminatory; brutal as opposed to inflammatory, all while trying to connect the dots of history.
neither his own position, nor the election of president obama can be seen as an end in this journey for true racial equality. if anything, it opens a new chapter of discourse, challenge and change.
in all of this, there has been one glaring omission: the forgotten history of those who were there first, the native american. wither their history and culture and races?
and finally, it’s not my call to agree or otherwise with eric holder. but when i think of cowardice today, i don’t need to look much further that a group bandits, thugs and scoundrels that call themselves the guardians of india’s constitution.
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