by Richard Mahler
In a speech Holder gave for the African-American History Month program at the Justice Department, he called Americans "cowards" with respect to race relations.
"Though the 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," Holder said.
"Though race-related issues continue to occupy a significant portion of our political discussion and though there remain many unresolved racial issues in this nation, we average Americans simply do not talk enough with each other about race."
Holder essentially called Americans fearful of the issue of race relations. "As a nation we have done a pretty good job in melding the races in the workplace." But, "outside the workplace the situation is even more bleak in that there is almost no significant interaction between us. On Saturdays and Sundays America in the year 2009 does not, in some ways, differ significantly from the country that existed some fifty years ago."
Holder is calling for Americans to stop this "voluntary segregation" of their social lives.
In response to this statement, radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh stated that "Many people asked me before the election if we elect Obama, can't we say the country is no longer racist?" I cautioned you not to have that belief. I said it's only going to get worse. With a black president, you're going to have any criticism of him, or a lot of criticism of him, labeled racist, and I warned you what some of the civil rights leaders have said, that he doesn't really represent the slave blood of American oppression. He doesn't have any. His wife does, but she's not the president."
Limbaugh went on, commenting on the role of individuals such as Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Thomas Masters in the ongoing suppression of African Americans by their own leaders.
"They're going to keep the race business alive, and it's going to prosper during the Obama administration because that causes more chaos and it causes more division. "
"Now, tell me, what is unifying about any of this?" Limbaugh said.
Holder’s claim that America is "socially segregated" comes on the heels of the election of the first African American president and the appointment of himself to the position of Attorney General. Holder, of which, is the first African American AG in the history of the United States.
The very same day, Al Sharpton assembled a rally in midtown Manhattan to protest the New York Post's so called "racist" cartoon. The event brought hundreds of protesters of every age and race to 1211 6th Avenue, home to Rupert Murdoch's towering News Corporation building.
The cartoon, as described by Reverend Sharpton, is ""troubling at best given the historic racist attacks of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys." The claim, ultimately being that the cartoon is stating that President Obama is a monkey because he "wrote" the stimulus bill.
But, the Editor-in-Chief at the Post responded to the remarks stating that "the cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy..."
Whether Eric Holder’s comments as well as Reverend Sharptons are an ongoing ploy to artificially "put down" African Americans is up to personal perspective. But it does portray the ongoing divide that holder spoke of, however it is not, in the opinion of Sean Hannity, Fox News Anchor, the "white man’s fault" this time around.