"Cowards" Can Now Talk About Race

Thank You Eric Holder!

I never imagined that I would have anything to thank Eric Holder for, given his liberal background and questionable judegment record (despite my son-in-law's complimentary comments regarding his law-school era meeting with Mr. Holder, in which the Attorney General was extremely gracious and helpful).  

It appears that Mr Holder is obsessed with issues of race, and his latest comments provide insight into not only the basis of his rise through the political swamp, but also into our understanding that under his tenure, Justice may no longer be wearing a blindfold. It will now be reasonable to assume that his decisions may be based not on blind facts, but his perceptions of 'fairness'.  Holder appears to be one of those perpetually aggrieved black liberals who, despite their own relatively comfortable, protected, and mentored lives, will never be satisfied that remuneration for past racisim and discrimination will ever be satisfied, and as a result will always justify the heavy hand of governmental remedial action.

However, hearing his comment that we are a nation of cowards for not speaking about race, also produced a reaction in me that felt as if a yoke had been lifted off my shoulders.  His statement, and the actuality of Barack Obama's inauguration as President, may have finally provided the antidote to the political correctness on race this country has been unjustly suffering from.  

Heather MacDonald, writing in the City Journal , has provided some facts that could serve as the starting point for our new, free and open discourse on race.  Let the discussion begin:

the homicide rate for black men between the ages of 18 and 24 is well over ten times that of whites. And disparities in other violent-crime rates are just as startling. In New York City, one of the nation’s safest large cities, 83 percent of all gun assailants were black during the first six months of 2008, according to victims and witnesses, though blacks make up only 24 percent of the city’s population. Add Hispanic perps, and you account for 98 percent of all shootings in New York City. The face of violent crime in cities is almost exclusively black or brown. That explains why someone might feel a sense of trepidation when approached by a group of black youths. That’s not racism; it’s the reality of crime. And it’s that reality that determines whom the police stop, frisk, and arrest.

The black high school drop-out rate approaches 50 percent. On the 2006 SAT, the average score in the critical-reading section was 434 for blacks, 527 for whites, and 510 for Asians; in the math section, 429 for blacks, 536 for whites, and 587 for Asians; and in the writing section, 428 for blacks, 519 for whites, and 512 for Asians. America’s lousy showing in international math, science, and reading tests compared with Japan and Western Europe is influenced in large part by the low scores of blacks and Hispanics. If blacks and Hispanics performed at the level that whites do, the U.S. would lead all industrialized nations in reading and would lead Europe in math and science, according to a study published in the Phi Delta Kappan in 2005.

Likewise, after their first year of legal education, 51 percent of blacks labor in the bottom tenth of their class; two-thirds reside in the bottom fifth. Blacks are four times as likely as whites to fail the bar exam on the first try. Until such achievement disparities are eliminated, any allegations of racial discrimination in the absence of proportional numbers of black policy wonks—or law partners, chemists, engineers, or investment bankers—is absurd, especially when the nation’s elite institutions are doing everything they can to recruit black students, professors, and employees. 

Closing the educational achievement gap will be difficult as long as the black illegitimacy rate is nearly 71 percent, compared with a white rate of 26 percent. Taxpayers foot the bill for this family breakdown—when fatherless children who never learned self-control and self-discipline disrupt classrooms and prevent other children from learning, and when the same fatherless children get sucked up into gang life and fail to connect with the world of work and responsibility. 

Closing the educational achievement gap will be difficult as long as the black illegitimacy rate is nearly 71 percent, compared with a white rate of 26 percent. Taxpayers foot the bill for this family breakdown—when fatherless children who never learned self-control and self-discipline disrupt classrooms and prevent other children from learning, and when the same fatherless children get sucked up into gang life and fail to connect with the world of work and responsibility. 

Are there people who are biased and racist? Yes, both black and white, but they are a small minority in this great country.  Unfortunately, there are others in this country who have made, and continue to make their living on the basis of racial discord.  But, now thanks to Eric Holder, we may have the opportunity to speak the truth to power, and clearly and loudly say that this Emperor has no clothes on......