I am a retired Mexican-American social worker with much experience in corrections, community work, and drug abuse treatment. Most of my work was in the Los Angeles and Phoenix areas.

I agree completely with your article and with the comments of Sell Mendoza. I am no coward on race issues and have been "carefully" preaching some of the points you make in your article for years to Latinos and Blacks under appropriate professional circumstances. Many street-wise minority people have become well versed in pulling the race card and intimidating people into silence based on learned mantras of victimhood (they do not work on me).

No truly professional social and behavioral scientist grounded in reality concerning gangs, drugs, schools, and minority neighborhoods would deny the truth of your words. However, many "aware" professionals are most definitely "coward" by their silence out of fear for their physical safety, careers, and livelihoods. Sometimes it is so frustrating attending conferences dealing with minority issues in which professionals parrot the litany of victim- hood theories and solutions based on them. Of course, nothing works based on such theories and false assumptions ... things have only gotten progressively worse in America.

Eric Holder has done us a great favor by calling me a "coward" and now maybe we can engage him in discussing minority-minority violence, crime, dysfunctional families, and students "honestly."

I would love to participate in a conference where he invited you and minority scholars to "tell it like it is." Maybe, with your connections, this could be done someday soon. Thank you for your courage in "telling it like it is."

I just wanted to say thank you very much for your article. I am a conservative black, and unlike the "angry black [fe]male," I have other things to say about racial issues in America. I agree 100 percent with you. If I were to sit with someone (of any race) and have an open conversation about race, I would probably go on a rant about the black community being stuck in a vicious cycle with no hope of getting out unless individuals start to take personal responsibility. I know for a fact that we do not need to talk more about race. People (namely blacks) are so hung up on it, it's inhibiting.

The real cowards are those that continue to hide behind the stigma of slavery and segregation of the past, and continue to perpetuate separation in an attempt to lift up the supposed underdog to "equal" status. We have Black History Month, historically black colleges, and other things that are exclusively African-American. If we are all equal, why are we being forced to recognize blacks above all others?

Chris Perrius, in response to this article, wrote that the "acting white myth" relative to the attitude of African-Americans towards academic achievement has been largely "debunked." I would love to see the research on this nonsense.

I spent over three years as a school psychologist working in Baltimore City Schools. I also joined Big Brothers/Big Sisters over 10 years ago and have maintained a relationship with my African-American "little brother" and Baltimore City high school graduate during this whole time. My personal experience, and his experience as a student, both confirm that a big piece of the problem is that academics is not held in high regard by many black students. Doing well in school is in fact "acting white" to many of these students, which sends a very powerful, negative message to the others.

Again, I'd love to see the research Perrius speaks of.

Excellent piece. So true. One has to acknowledge the problem before it is fixed, and the problem is NOT racism.

Blacks should exercise their power to achieve and give up on demanding special considerations, exceptions to the rules, etc. Bill Cosby is brave. I bet a lot of blacks in the middle class agree with him, but they are afraid to speak out. When they do, then America can have an honest discussion about race.

Well, you certainly aren't a coward. Good for you, for citing facts that many are afraid to bring up for fear of being called a "racist."

You raise some good points and some bad ones. But my question to you is, "Why all the anger?" Holder's point is that many Americans are reticent to talk about race and that it would be good if we did so more often. Do you disagree with that? Is that really controversial?

Ms MacDonald,

All that you say is true. However, your article is simply part of the conversation on race that Mr. Holder is suggesting. Perhaps his suggestion wasn't so bad?

Also, as a white man married to a black woman and with two mixed-race children, I can say from 20 years of experience that there remains far more racism than you might imagine in our society -- and it's not simply older people. My wife routinely gets followed around stores by security guards. White business associates of mine, who are not aware that my wife is black, routinely make derogatory remarks or jokes about blacks. When I encounter working- class whites, the remarks are even worse. My black nephews are often targeted by police for harassment, even though they are perfectly decent and law abiding and don't wear gang-type clothing. So, we still have a long way to go.

Black society also has a long way to go. One of my black nieces was routinely called "white" by classmates in high school because she was diligent about her studies. This attitude has to go. I must say, though, that the election of Obama has had a stirring impact on the attitudes of my wife's relatives. They seem to feel that they're now part of a society from which they had previously felt alienated. I'm hopeful that this pride will, in the long run, pay dividends.

As a school teacher of 11 years let me say - Bravo, Bravo, Bravo. I have heard every excuse of self-pity and victimhood imaginable. The work ethic is dying in America. The dysfunctional nature of the culture of poverty is like a tsunami wiping out a large chunk of African-American and Hispanic children. Schools are becoming de facto parenting operations - its horrible to be a teacher today. Liberals lock up Election Day votes by preaching drivel to fulfill their own political self-interest.

The only thing that involves cowardice is the Main Stream media's failure to print the facts presented in this article.

Ms Mac Donald's response to Eric Holder's remarks is a breath of fresh air. I agree with the points she makes and admire her courage. For most Americans, Mr Holder's comments will be considered a worrisome indication of prosecutorial themes. For example, to have the attorney general chide Americans for segregating their private life is stunning. Is Mr. Holder going to require the Justice Department to moniter integration of our home life? In a truly post-racial society, aren't we free to socialize with friends of any race, at our own choosing? Mr. Holder's comments about the need for more affirmative action were an indication of the cure he has in mind for what ails us. However, his playing the racial-guilt card to justify the imposition of more hiring and admission advantages seems out of place in 2009.

I can safely say that what you say is accurate. I am a black, politically independent man; however, I agree with you. But the systematic failure of blacks is firmly in black people's hands. I hate to say this, but it comes down to the breakdown of the family structure. Where whites, along with our Asian brothers and sisters, have a sound family structure, our black family structure is lacking because of several reasons: one being poverty, two being lack of discipline and God in the community, three being residual effects from the destruction of the family unit during slavery (it is not an excuse, but it is true and can be traced back that far). However, as a black man, I realize that we have choices, and there is a choice to do right and a choice to do wrong. We need to realize that we can't blame anyone anymore. We cannot cling to that stigma. We need to help ourselves. This applies to our brown brothers also.

Thank you for the article, and I hope that we can further explore the truth about race, even from the white side and its negatives.

In the education section of this article, you write: "Perhaps Holder could confront the stigma against academic achievement among many black youth, who deride studying ... as 'acting white.'" This is the only explanation for racial achievement gaps that you know of or care to mention? There is solid research that shows that black students on the whole actually hold academic success in higher esteem than white students do; the "acting white" myth is largely debunked. The evidence of teacher and school bias toward black students is much more solid, but neglected because it makes people uncomfortable -- which is to say, they are afraid to discuss it. Liberal talk about racism rarely goes beyond abstractions and historical legacies, but active racism is alive and well (e.g., peer-reviewed studies that show hiring and housing bias, psychological studies that reveal bias against black faces). So perhaps it is understandable that conservatives think this talk is empty, but you're not better than they are if you don't look into the facts.

A very well-put column. We need more such columns to call the race-baiters for what they are. We have had enough conversations that lay blame at whites. If we have any more race conversations (which I don't want), then let's talk about the responsibility of blacks to aspire to greatness without looking for a handout, or some other preferential treatment.