An Open Conversation with Eric Holder (featured on Lou Dobbs radio show, 02/19, hr2, 35:17- 40:40)



Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2009

by
Charleston Perlo

I am Black and I don't agree with Eric Holder. I think Americans, North and South and everywhere have open and honest conversations about values and ideas of groups with different skin colors, and other traits of diversity. They talk about black-on-black crime, the lost generation of young African-American men, the outrageous pregnancy rates of African-American teenagers, the foul insensitive language of gangsta hip-hop. Sometimes the honesty is not so nice. Sometimes it stereotypes and slurs. But other times people ask geniune questions about the attitudes and views about the African-American part of the American mosaic.

As an African-American, I enjoy the challenge of climbing out of my own skin and seeing the world wholly. I refuse to play victim, or to fit into a box. And I certainly never speak threateningly or shrilly to call out others for their voices or their silence.

The experience of being an African-American in America has been a journey of wonder. The discovery of insights has matured my understanding beyond blind allegiance to the closed doors and discrimination of my early years. Yet surprisingly, many folk believe that African-Americans lose their critical eye when assessing the positions or ideas held by others with whom they are linked by common history and blood. These folk think the African-American response is often knee-jerk, unthinking and uncritical. Eric Holder is currentlyand rightlytheir poster child. His loud, brash, big brush wolf statement probably won't draw anyone out to sensitively and sensibly dialogue about how race or other diverse traits affects individuals and communities. For example, SwampGator wonders in Beaufort, SC why people who differ with Obama politically are often labeled racist? Well, I don't think legitimate differences are examples of racism. In fact, I wrote a book about the bitter conflicts and comments directed at Obama during the campaign and specifically said it wasn't racism that lay behind the attacks and pancake boxes and cartoons and school bus chants and threats. I invite Swamp to join those like me who can discuss differences without labels, and examine positions and ideas on merits. I'll happy to talk and blog with Swamp and others who want to engage in lively exchange about political differences or race.

In fact, I'll start the conversation. The common history of African-American heritage is a good place to launch into the discussion. One thing African-Americans have in common is that many outside of the group see the group as having the same attitudes and views! Many outside the group think the majority of African-Americans think alike. I see it constantly on my blogs.

Like jazz, or cooking, African-Americans are diverse!

That's why I am brave enough to say I disagree with Eric Holder! I think he is wrong. Certainly, the more than 60 million whites who voted for Barack on November 8, as he was attacked as elite, naive, inexperienced, Muslim, hate monger, and scary socialist with the wrong friends, showed plenty of courage. They spoke up loudly and boldly.

And if you think they were all stupid, and that's your point of view, it doesn't make you racist.

But it doesn't mean I agree with you!

Walter Rhett Walter Rhett attended Ohio State and writes from Charleston, SC. He writes about national and global affairs with an eye on Southern history and culture and enjoys listening to his readers.

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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)
» left by Sandra E. Graham
from Paragould, AR USA 2 years 354 days ago.
Hello, Walter. Another great article. I have to admit I haven't read or heard any of Eric Holder's views or comments. But I'm like you--I enjoy stepping outside my skin to talk, discuss, or just think about the world as a whole. Skin color or nationality--or religion, for that matter--has never been an issue for me. And I have always found it very confusing to understand why, for some it is such an issue. I like to think we are all different, but only because we are individuals, not because I'm pale and he/she is dark. I voted for Obama, but I admit I was concerned about his inexperience. But I have always felt that the only way to get experience is to do a job. And the other option--well, I just couldn't conceivably go that way at all! That was the type of experience we DIDN'T need. Thanks for a wonderfully insightful article.
 
Have a good day and God Bless.
 
Sandra
» left by Margaret Summers from Washington, DC 2 years 349 days ago.
I guess this is an Obama-era "post-racial" commentary. Funny thing about it, nobody told the racists that we now live in post-racial land! I just finished viewing a documentary on the PBS "Independent Lens" series about an African American family's efforts to exhume the remains of a relative who died in the early 1900s in a small Missouri town after white residents lynched a Black man and drove the small African American population out of the town. The town today remains all-white, and some of its residents admitted, on camera, that the reason they love living there so much, besides the fact that it's inexpensive, is that it's free of (n-words)! The African American family which was the focus of the documentary was finally able to exhume the relative's remains and move them to a family plot in another town where the family settled after the African American community was destroyed. The reason it took so long to exhume the remains was because of stiff resistance from the now all-white town's administrators, from the mayor on down. Eric Holder is right, as was President Clinton before him; there can be no justice, no peace, no healing, no closure, until Americans confront our nation's racism, discuss it honestly and openly, and arrive at ways to rid our nation of it. Pretending it doesn't exist doesn't help. Pretending that discussing it means one is "limited," viewing the world with "blinders on" or being "boxed in" doesn't help, either. Yes, lots of white people voted for Obama, and hooray for that, but sadly, it doesn't mean that racism all of a sudden disappeared from the face of the Earth. The documentary I saw is proof positive that it's alive and well.

I am an African American but that's not why I agree with Eric Holder, and President Clinton before him, who while not African American arrived at the same conclusion. Some folks would rather float through life on the river of De Nile ("Denial"). I believe in facing reality, because only then can one solve problems. 

In short, a well written commentary, but waaaay off the mark.
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