Eric Holder, the nation's first black attorney general, said Wednesday the United States was "a nation of cowards" on matters of race, with most Americans avoiding candid discussions of racial issues. In a speech to Justice Department employees marking Black History Month, Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.

"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards," Holder said.

The following, from me:

Hey, Mr. Holder:

With all due respect — do you even know what you're talking about?

I doubt it.

Please do the nation this courtesy: Spare us any more inane non sequiturs. Please. How heart-stoppingly STUPID.

Stop it.

"Cowards"? Because we do not talk enough about "race"? Or as much as YOU think we should about it?

Mr. Holder, that is ALL we talk about in this country anymore — when we are not talking about sex — and we serve it up boiled, mashed, stewed, and smothered in onions.

We are FORCED to obsess over "race" endlessly, because the race/grievance/victimization merchants, of which you are certainly one, will not let us think about anything else.

Do you refuse to let us go, Mr. Pharaoh?

Listen to me: The blacks in this country have it FAR, FAR BETTER than blacks anywhere else in the world. And you may not know this, but African slavery has long been abolished in our 50 states, the Jim Crow era is over and finished, we have affirmative action enacted and enshrined from sea to shining sea, and we are prohibited by law in this land to discriminate against blacks or even to say anything "mean" about them. Right?

Anyone who does not like it here is always welcome to leave. I notice they stay.

What in Reason's name are you talking about Mr. Holder?

Speak for yourself, Mr. Holder. You do NOT speak for me or my household. The man writing these words is no "coward" — not about "race," anyway, which I would not even think about if you would just quit dealing that particular drug.

In the Name of Heaven, Mr. Holder, you and all who "think" like you:

SHUT UP ABOUT IT ALREADY!