Holder on race

Re “Holder tackles U.S. racial divide,” Feb. 19

Thank goodness we have an attorney general who is willing to tell it like it is.

We, as a nation, are too slow in achieving racial equality. I agree with Eric H. Holder Jr. that our nation, as The Times paraphrases, “needs to begin confronting the issue of race relations before it polarizes the country even further.” Holder is right when he says that we need “to have frank conversations about the racial matters that continue to divide us.”

I am convinced that one-on-one or small-group discussions will help us make the progress we so sorely need to reduce racism. We have ample evidence, after the election of Barack Obama, that it continues as a major divide.

Karl Strandberg

Long Beach

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Am I the only one who takes offense at our country being called “a nation of cowards”?

The new attorney general would not be where he is today if Americans hadn’t progressed measurably in the last several decades. We voted happily for an African American for president. Any number of ethnicities are now represented in our government and daily lives.

Holder’s remarks are way out of line and do not promote progress.

Norma Wilkinson

Long Beach