A Nation of Some Cowards

In the weeks since Barack Obama's election as president, it has become increasingly popular for some to declare that the scourge of racism is behind us and black people have no excuses anymore.

What is newly confounding is this notion that one accomplished black man could clear away more than 200 years of thistle and thorns simply by putting his hand on Lincoln's Bible and saying "so help me, God." The conservatives' lament is that liberals have deified the new president, but nothing basks a man in a greater celestial light than depicting him as the savior of an entire people.

Against this backdrop of continued clashing, Attorney General Eric Holder apparently thought it was a good idea to call America a "nation of cowards" when it comes to our willingness to have an honest discussion about race.

That went over well.

Pointing out room for improvement can nudge a person in the right direction. Every good parent knows the value of a well-placed suggestion. Calling people names is like putting a shovel in their hands and inviting them to dig in. Think about it. When's the last time you called someone a jerk and got a hug in return?

Holder was trying to make an important point that was all but lost in the ensuing uproar over those three little words. He is right that when it comes to race, far too many white people still fear the tough conversations with people we know and often love but can't believe are related to us. By painting everyone with the same toxic stain, he failed to acknowledge the many white Americans in 2008 who did, indeed, find the courage to pull up the weeds of racism that were choking the life out of some of their most cherished relationships.

Last summer, I wrote a column encouraging white readers — particularly those who, like me, come from the working class — to have the tough talks back home with loved ones whose prejudice they no longer could bear silently. Some readers blasted me for writing honestly about my father's struggle with race, but hundreds more from across the country said that my father could have been their uncle, their mother, their best friend.

By September, a steady stream of readers described their attempts to broach the topic of race with people they love.

Some of these talks did not go well. Feelings were hurt, and some relationships might not recover. Often, though, the conversations ended in different places from where they started, and everyone involved was willing to call it progress.

What struck me most about so many of these readers was the personal courage they summoned to confront ugly truths hanging over their lives like storm clouds ready to burst. A hard rain clears skies, and without people like them, I do not believe Barack Obama would have won.

Holder is right that it takes courage to confront what we rather would not see. I feel a familiar tug of resistance every time I read online comments posted on Cleveland.com about some stories in my own newspaper. I don't want to believe such ugliness exists.

Earlier this week, for example, two young white men were gunned down outside a bar in downtown Cleveland. One of them died; the other was injured critically. The first story reported four assailants but didn't identify their race. That didn't stop the usual onslaught of racial slurs in the comments. The awful facts of murder and robbery and young lives ruined were just vehicles for their hate.

As long as we're willing to give people like them a forum, we also have a responsibility to confront the hate they spread. That means covering speeches like Holder's, writing columns like this.

The thing is the haters are the minority in this country, but you would not know that from the percentage of them online.

You also wouldn't know who they are by reading their comments, because they tend not to give real names.

On the scale of courage, it doesn't get more cowardly than that.

Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and the author of two books from Random House: "Life Happens" and "… and His Lovely Wife." To find out more about Connie Schultz (cschultz@plaind.com) and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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