Holder: equality is not enough
Our new Attorney General, Eric Holder, says we are still a bunch of cowards about race despite all these years of affirmative action, and our brand new African-American president and Attorney General (that would be Mr. Holder himself).
Why? Because we don’t talk enough about race, and because although we might work together, we don’t play together well on weekends.
Holder was speaking at the Justice Department in honor of black history month, February (here is the full text of his speech). He made it clear that, despite all the advances of the last fifty years, there is much more work to be done.
Holder’s attitude is a good example of what I was talking about the other day, that some time ago equality of opportunity ceased to be enough to satisfy liberals and special interest groups, and was replaced by equality of outcome. Now it seems that equality of outcome is not enough either, at least not to Holder—there must be a sort of merging. But at the same time he requires that African-Americans retain a favored status in terms of what is taught in school.
The teaching of history was a big focus of Holder’s speech, one that has been neglected in the attention given the sound bite of his “cowards” remark. This balancing act—merging the races while somehow retaining for blacks a favored status—is a bit tricky, to say the least. Here’s what Holder said about how black studies should be taught:
As a former American history major I am struck by the fact that such a major part of our national story [black history] has been divorced from the whole…For too long we have been too willing to segregate the study of black history. There is clearly a need at present for a device that focuses the attention of the country on the study of the history of its black citizens. But we must endeavor to integrate black history into our culture and into our curriculums in ways in which it has never occurred before so that the study of black history, and a recognition of the contributions of black Americans, become commonplace. But we have to recognize that until black history is included in the standard curriculum in our schools and becomes a regular part of all our lives, it will be viewed as a novelty, relatively unimportant and not as weighty as so called “real” American history.
This is a fascinating point of view that represents a change in ideas about racial justice. I was recently browsing through an old favorite of mine, Allan Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind (1987), and I found a passage that explains the early years of this process so much better than anything I could write that I will just quote him on the subject:
…[A]lmost all the significant leaders [of the early civil rights movement]…relied on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. They could charge whites not only with the most monstrous injustices but also with contradicting their own most sacred principles. The blacks were the true Americans in demanding the equality that belongs to them as human beings by natural and political right…They therefore worked through Congress, the Presidency, and, above all, the Judiciary. By contrast, the Black Power movement that supplanted the older civil rights movement…had at its core the view that the Constitutional tradition was always corrupt and was constructed as a defense of slavery. Its demand was for black identity, not universal rights…It insisted on respect for blacks as blacks, not as human beings simply….
The upshot of all this for the education of young Americans is that they know much less about American history and those who were held to be its heroes. This was one of the few things they used to come to college with that had something to do with their lives. Nothing has taken its place except a smattering of facts learned about other nations or cultures and a few social science formulas.
I would add that the teaching of black history has also taken the place of education about the founding fathers as heroes. As part of the mea culpa approach to history that has become even more prevalent in the years since Bloom wrote his book, the clay feet of American heroes are emphasized (in particular, their hypocrisy on racial issues), and the mistreatment of certain groups (native Americans, blacks, Japanese during WWII) is hammered home, as well as their achievements. Witness the fact that one might at times think Harriet Tubman superior in importance and influence to Thomas Jefferson, if amount of coverage in the school curricula were to be your only guide. I’m not asking that the US be treated by history teachers as though it were perfect. But the emphasis has gone too far in the other direction.
But back to Attorney General Holder, who appears to be asking for two contradictory things. If a race-blind society is the ultimate goal—and I think it is for Holder, since he is critiquing even the casual social separation of the races in their weekend activities—then it’s not likely that this could be arrived at by singling out a particular race for special consideration in the study of American history or through the continuance of affirmative action.
This contradictory approach is a thread that ran through President Obama’s campaign as well—the desire to have it both ways. Obama was the post-racial candidate, and his election has proven just how far we have come in this regard. But he also played on his racial identity by mentioning it many times (“I don’t look like the others;” “I have a funny name”), and his followers and associates made it clear that any criticism of Obama was by its very nature racially motivated.
In this piece, Gary Graham gives a good rendering of the problem from a personal point of view. Of course, he’s just a white guy, but let’s listen to him for a moment:
Apparently, I’m a racist coward because I want to be color blind. This great national offense of racism doesn’t want to die – even though we just elected our first black president. Just when you thought it was okay to climb out of the past, to put racial injustice and animosity behind us”¦the Attorney General in the national media yesterday drags it back out…
I don’t believe in Black History Month any more than I believe in White History Month. To me, Black History Month is a complete insult to Blacks. We must prop up an entire race of people, give them special awards, honors, and recognitions, underscoring their accomplishments and achievements and contributions to society, based on their color”¦ as if it’s so truly remarkable that they did it in the first place”¦and are African American to boot? Stop the presses! A black person accomplished something great! As if they couldn’t have done it on their own, without help. As if they are somehow inferior to whites. That they somehow overcame their blackness”¦and did all these wonderful things despite the obvious disadvantage, encumbrance, disability”¦of being a person of color.
Am I the only one in America”¦who finds this the least bit patronizing and insulting”¦and downright, well, racist?
No Gary, you’re not. But I don’t think we’ve reached the point where it’s OK to say so.
When the Eric Holders of the world stand up and proclaim that race is as empty a concept as phlogiston, I will stand and cheer. In the meantime, I’ll simply be content to cling to our Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and their antecedents as my guides to political affairs, trying my best to understand them and at the least, to remember them when the Mr. Holders will forget.
“For too long we have been too willing to segregate the study of black history”
What planet does Holder come from? For a long time our schools have skewed all American History classes to emphasize politically correct race lessons.
But in truth I don’t think Holder is deluded, rather he’s just another PC bully seeking to mandate ever more propaganda and indoctrination. He won’t be satisified until all math textbooks exclusively use word problems that further his agenda. (“Darnell has twenty dollars to buy groceries, but the dirty Jew merchant insists on charging prices that recoup his costs. If milk costs $3.50 a gallon a white fascist stores with low crime and low overhead but $4 a gallon at the Diamond Merchant store with high shoplifting and high overhead, how much is Darnell being cheated when he buys 2 gallons?”)
Any white person who speaks frankly about race had better be on the left side of the issue. Otherwise, it’s a career ender in many settings.
I agree that Eric Holder is a PC bully. And he’s a racist. Those kinds of people have already rendered History into “social studies,” which has become a potpourri of victimology stories. That is why our kids no longer know this country’s full history. That is why Western Civilization is on a course of suicide.
Once again, a statement I had made on another thread about the pure destructiveness of Harvard men is borne out.
We know that all of academia is now fully and completely cultural Marxist. But Harvard has always been at the forefront of this movement to destroy our country, our heritage, and our civilization.
More over-reaching. Conservatives understand the Law of Unintended Consequences. I expect that the election of President Obama and the appointment of people like Attorney General Holder will end up setting back race relations in the US by 20 or 25 years.
Does Holder really want to talk candidly about race?
Pace “A Few Good Men”: “You want the truth? YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!”
OK, how about this. Black failures in education make many whites secretly worry that they really are not equally intelligent, and that they’ll always be bringing up the rear. Until and unless blacks pull up their socks in the classroom, that suspicion will linger.
American social problems – e.g., illegitimacy, crime, drugs, welfare, gangs, illiteracy, decaying cities, and now the subprime mortgage fiasco – disproportionately come from or are connected with the black community.
Black culture needs to be cleaned up. Now would be a good time. They have to do it themselves; no one else can.
Anything else Holder would like to discuss candidly? Perhaps the going rate for pardons?
Liberals just spout stuff. It doesn’t have to be thought out in advance. It just has to sound good.
Among liberals there is always a crisis. Something only a government run by your betters can fix. As a society, we are never without some serious failing that only a government run by your betters can fully understand and rectify in your behalf, by laws and regulations you are always better off just adhering to rather than trying to understand them. We have a new aristocracy consisting of people believe they know so much more about stuff, and are more compassionate and understanding than you are. This is the new world order.
Oh, this is thought out alright. This isn’t about a frank and candid discussion about race, it’s about White apology and leads to reparations. It certainly fits the pattern of what this administration wants to accomplish in the first 100 days.
“You want the truth? YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH! …………….”, and “This isn’t about a frank and candid discussion about race, it’s about White apology and leads to reparations.”
I can’t add much to these observations, the “truth” has long occurred to me, but the angle on “reparations” hadn’t; Excellent insight and commentary for a great article… It’s amazing how many Dems, during the campaign, didn’t know that Martin Luther King was a Republican, much less the reason…
This financial crisis IS reparations. Dare I say it?
Look how closely the Black Congressional Caucus was
involved with FannieMae/FreddieMac. Franklin Delano Raines, Rep Gregory (Publicate) Meeks, Maxine Waters,
BHO, ACORN….. One hardly knows where to begin.
And furthermore, Obama delenda est
AG Holder wants to have a conversation about race, but, “If Americans are reluctant to talk with one another about race, could it have anything to do with the fact that there is only one “approved” narrative on race, it is imposed by those most conscious of race as a social construct on those least conscious of it, and that any deviation from the heterodoxy leaves one instantly subjected to mau-mauing as a racist – the most witheringly pernicious public characterization possible. Let us ponder the insistence of those in ethnic studies departments of academies throughout the land that to be born white in this country is to be born privileged, and therefore born innately racist. There’s nothing you can do.” That’s from Neptunus Lex.
You might want to go to his blog and read it all. Plus the comments – which are very good. It’s here: http://www.neptunuslex.com/2009/02/19/not-the-word-i-would-have-chosen-part-ducks/#comments
Whether it’s Auster discussing Black Racism Month or Holder requiring more than more, Whites will forever be required to apologize for for having had slave owning ancestors, required to hate themselves for being White, and never, ever satisfying the racist group demanding these concessions from them. Meanwhile, looming in the darkness are the pre-eminent slavers of all of history calling out their battle cry–Allahu Akbar.
Robert Stacey McCan has a post on Holder at PJM. Comment 33 there is really worth a read.
I have been saying the very thing Gary Graham is saying (in your citation) for years but it is disregarded by most liberals I know because I am white.
A lot of good people (of all colors) went through a lot of pain during the 60s to bring about REAL CHANGE – part of which did away with the “separate but equal” philosophy struck down in Brown v The Board of Education. Now for the last twenty years (at least) so-called black leaders have preached a mantra of separatism. I think they figured out that if they admitted to a pretty level playing field then all the things like affirmative action would disappear – and so would their influence.
In the past few years we have all heard the statement (and in a couple of net groups I belong to I have had this parroted to me) that minorities can’t be racist because they do not possess the POWER. This is so laughable – I just tell people to read Larry Elder’s book “Ten Things You Can’t Say in America”. One of the chapters is “Blacks are more racist than whites”.
from having traveled extensively over many years – from rural areas to most major urban areas – I can say with no doubt that there are more places in this country where I would be in physical danger because of my pigmentation than a black person would.
During the campaign the race card was continually played. If anyone disagreed Obama on anything all of a sudden it was somehow tied to racist views. I just told everyone there were any number of black people who would get my vote for President – Obama wasn’t one of them. I told them I believed what Martin Luther King, Jr. said – that a man should be judged by the content of his character not the color of his skin. And just because someone is black does not mean his character cannot be found wanting.
Sorry again for being long winded on the previous post but there is one additional thing as far as race relations go
In about eighteen months to two years there will be a great number of people who are going to be very angry that they don’t have the house, the car, and the big monthly check that Obama promised them. He of course will not be blamed – instead the blame will be laid off on the racist whites who will not get behind Obama. As Oblio stated there is a very good chance this administration will erase many years or striving.
expat,
I did see that post at #33 over there. I guess she sure did take both Holder and Obama out behind the woodshed for a good, old-fashioned ass-whipping. And she did it with style.
It’s only been, what, 30+ days and already we are a laughingstock. But, there’s more to come…
Obama and Holder will by themselves cause a generational setback in race relations, consequent to the harm they are inflicting and will inflict upon us all. They and their black worshippers don’t see this, but it will be one of the unintended consequences of their policies and posturings. I can see it building already.
Touche, Jimmy J!
Only one approved narrative from a group that
began by being ‘incredulous of a meta-narrative’.
See DrSanity on the transition from post-modernism
to fascism.
And furthermore…
Greetings:
Several years ago, on one of my internet safaris, I came across the US Department of Justice’s web site. In looking over the murder statistics, I discovered that a white person had a 3-4 times the probability of being murdered by a black person than a black person had of being murdered by a white person. This was a straight murder to murder comparison, unadjusted for the disparity in the size of the groups in the overall population.
Since that time, I have seen this observation mentioned just one time in the mainstream media and that was by Michael Barone in US News & World Report.
Do you think Attorney General Holder is aware of this?
The more I think about Eric Holder’s statement, the more riled up I get. I served my country in the Army. A lot of guys I know have done so – some even in combat zones. Has he ever served in the military? No, he didn’t. What’s more, we all served together, black, white, hispanic, asian, and native American. But those subsets did not matter, because we were all soldiers and Americans. Screw the rest of it.
In another day and time if I could I would have challenged Eric Holder to a duel, because I demand satisfaction from the man I think has no balls.
Remember how, before the election, liberals were excoriating conservatives as “racist” and “paranoid” and “lying liars” for pointing out with concern Obama’s numerous close connections to racists and fascists and communists and terrorists? Isn’t it funny how Obama appoints people that fit this perception that Obama prefers scum?
Being born in 1959, all i’ve ever heard in my lifetime is the specialness of blacks. I’m sick of hearing it and having it shoved down my throat.
There is nothing special about a people playing the perpetual victim card in a sea of golden opportunity.
Hearing more about racism and racial guilt and the crimes of the United States makes me want to douse myself in gasoline and light a match. I received enough of that in eleventh grade “US History,” thank you very much.
The problems that exist within the black community are a product of the black community, and racial violence is typically class struggle disguised as hate crime. The vast majority of hate crimes (as we white folks define them) are usually perpetrated by young, lower-class males against either a) other young lower-income males of a different “group” or b) higher-income young males. It’s not a struggle between “black and white,” it’s a struggle between rich and poor (and the subdivisions of the poor who struggle amongst themselves), most often with the educated, higher-class individuals who are discriminated against.
But on the note of imaginary racism, consider the following: crack cocaine is wreaking havoc on black communities across the United States. But, when the United States justice system instituted higher penalties for the production, sale and consumption of crack cocaine, black leaders called it “institutional racism.” I won’t tell you exactly how hypocritical that is, because I don’t have to.
– G
It’s usually a mistake and always a waste of time to try to account for the next tantrum, scolding, cultural critique, and demand made by professional liberals.
They are merely playing a role. They must be in continual grievance mode or else–like a wet sock—they lose their reason for living. [Personally I don’t think the analogy works, but there you have it.]
“The election is over. We must thnk of another barb to jam into our enemies, another unfulfillment (patent pending) that reveals chronic and endemic problems in American civilization….think…think…think… Ah, yes. I got it. ‘Racism is NOT dead. Whitey will not discuss race relations because he is afraid to confront his guilt and our rage. He is a coward.’ Yeah, that’s the ticket.”
I say, ignore the bastards. Let them discuss amongst themselves.
Genius to the left of me
Cowardice to the right
Stuck with a leftist GPS
I said back during the election campaign that Obama had already set race relations back 30 years.
Do I hear 50? A hundred?
Mr. Holder should resign his job as Attorney General of what he considers a nation or racist cowards.
Having said that, cowardly racists are the best kind. I’d rather have our racists hiding under the bed as opposed to the bold racists of Europe.
We must prop up an entire race of people, give them special awards, honors, and recognitions, underscoring their accomplishments and achievements and contributions to society, based on their color… as if it’s so truly remarkable that they did it in the first place…and are African American to boot? Stop the presses! A black person accomplished something great! As if they couldn’t have done it on their own, without help. As if they are somehow inferior to whites.
Tell it to Michelle Obama, with her thesis at Princeton, titled “Princeton-educated Blacks and the Black community”. Beacon of scientific thought.
11b40 — It’s worse than that.
Consider Percent of All Stranger Homicides by Race from the DOJ. Blacks kill ~4x as many whites as whites kill blacks. Adjusting for the fact that there are ~6.5x as many whites as blacks, therefore blacks are 25x more likely to murder whites than visa-versa.
If one looks at rape statistics — in the United States in 2005, 37,460 white females were sexually assaulted or raped by a black man, while between zero and ten black females were sexually assaulted or raped by a white man.
http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=28129
So by all means, Mr. Holder, it’s time for some honest discussions between blacks and whites about inter-racial violence.
We hear a lot of grievance talk from blacks — including President Obama — about how whites edge away from blacks in random encounters.
Black feelings are hurt by this and I can understand that. However, if you crunch the numbers, the white fear of blacks is entirely justified. I wish it were otherwise, but that’s the fact.
I think Eric Holder’s statements reveal more about him than they convey anything truthful about us.
When did it become the attorney general’s job to tell a free people what they can and cannot say, who they should and should not associate with, or how they should and should not spend their hard-earned leisure time?
This is truly frightening. We are being governed by a gaggle of grotesques.
I’m tempted to paraphrase Sojourner Truth:
Well, we’re having a fine little conversation on race now, aren’t we?
Just not, you know: The one that Holder was looking for, I don’t think.
This is not the conversation anyone wants to have. Which is why it is not going to happen any time soon, Attorney General Holder’s admonitions notwithstanding.
Nope.
He’s expecting more of the same. A monologue from the usual suspects while the rest of us keep quiet.
Imagine the consternation that would ensue if the Attorney General was from the military and he was insisting that we needed a Military History month plus constant reminders in school and in the news about our past and present military heroes and their necessity for America, and that we all go out and make friends with people in the military.
The usual suspects! We are getting close to a dangerous topic. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say: a monologue from the usual suspects speaking by and through their tools.
Do I mean the culture of critique?
Our sixteen year old son is a junior at a school which celebrates Martin Luther King day with a seminar program on the Tuesday after the holiday. Last year in a seminar on Black History, my son was singled out by the presenter to stand up and talk about how he felt about “being someone who has profited from slavery.” Talk about being cold-cocked! This is an example of the kind of “conversation” Eric Holder is recommending, and it is distinctly one-sided. In this conversation, he thugs from the race-racket industry get to name all white peoples’ sins, and white people get to apologize. Over and over and over again.
Holder’s speech is a chilling signal that the race-racket is now occupying the halls of power, and is becoming institutionalized. Politicians will name all white peoples’ sins, and white people will apologize over and over and over again. And it will never, ever be enough.
“This is not the conversation anyone wants to have. Which is why it is not going to happen any time soon”
I suspect you are wrong, and we are going to see an ever-increasing number of ordinary Americans willing to stand up and say “up yours” to Holder and his bullying racist friends.
That’s why I say not many of these conversations will get started, and if they turn the way this one has, the Holders of the world will suddenly remember an engagement across town.
If conservatives start the conversation on their own, it will be held up as evidence for the “Republicans are racists meme.” Therefore, conservatives will tend to be reticent about bringing up racial matters.
Therefore, not so many conversations about real racial issues affecting African-Americans. Holder must know this at some level.