Just A Bunch of Cowards - Guest Blogger

Coward. That's what the Attorney General of the United States just
called you. A coward. No, you're not the only one who lacks the
courage to do something unpleasant. Apparently the entire nation is,
and just to make sure that he topped the icing with a nice red
cherry, he also denigrated over 200 years worth of our majestic
heritage. His words are forthcoming, but I want to make sure that you
understand that in the mind of Mr. Eric Holder, the greatest nation
on the planet is made up of a bunch of milquetoasts.
He must have gone to the same history class as our finally-proud-of-
my-country First Lady. His exact words, according to an AP story
were, “Though this 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.” He said, “we have
always been” cowards.
Besides being both childish and elitist, I think it was a good
strategy. I mean, didn't schoolyard insults always promote tolerance
in your neighborhood?
Consider it on this level: I think Chavez and Ahmadinejad alone
fulfill the slander quotient for our nation. Apparently some people
are just not content to leave well enough alone.
Do they teach all law students to call everyone sissies while
sounding extremely pious? Don't answer that. Instead, let's take a
quick roll call.
The most racially integrated nation in the world, made up of people
from every nook and cranny on the globe, that since its inception has
championed freedom of speech and religion around the world? Check.
Plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty that reads, “Give me your
tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The
wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless,
tempest-tossed, to me...?” Check.
Thirteenth Amendment? Check.
Interracial president? Check.
AG using his pulpit for race-baiting during Black History Month? Check.
Don't believe me about the race-baiting? Disagree with Mr. Holder and
see what you get called – a racist. State publicly that the
government can only force segregation so far and you instantly become
a bigot.
What Holder doesn't get is that you can't socialize or regulate
friendships. Most often people choose their friends based on
something much deeper than skin color. I learned from organized
sports that there's only one color – the one on the jersey. From the
military I learned that the only colors that really matter are the
ones on the flag, and from the Bible I learned that God concerns
himself with only a few colors – the crimson stain of our sins and
white purity which comes with forgiveness in Christ.
I'm Caucasian, meaning my skin is a lighter tone than others, but
that has nothing to do with the color or size of my heart.
No, I don't have a problem talking about race and I doubt you do
either. Yet, I do have a big problem with a high ranking government
official perpetuating a culture of guilt and divisiveness.
He would have done better to call me a honky or a cracker. He could
have called me white bread. I would have been less offended. That
doesn't really bother me. Call me a racist if you want. My friends
know better.
Just don't call me a coward. Those are fighting words.


Written by Michael Andrzejewski for The LaGrange Daily News