LETTERS TO EDITOR: Holder's race dialogue

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Let's be frank. I am a politically conservative Republican, and I wholeheartedly welcome Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.'s provocative remarks on "things racial." As an aggressive activist, I agree with him that we are a "nation of cowards." Debate with intellectual honesty is very healthy.

(Corrected paragraph:) To start things off, Mr. Attorney General, would you agree we should dismiss the deranged and racist laws involving so-called hate crimes? We need to follow one Constitution and one set of laws for everyone. If I rob a wallet on a weekend from someone across town of another race, I don't want to be prosecuted more severely than if I rob my neighbor's wallet on a Wednesday.

I hope our liberal Democratic neighbors across this great nation agree with Mr. Holder that "we must feel comfortable enough with one another and tolerant enough of each other to have frank conversations."

It would be edifying to discuss the argument that many problems blamed on racial divides are really caused by socioeconomic divides. That is, the politically privileged versus the underprivileged. For example, we can talk about how, as deputy attorney general, Mr. Holder played an integral role with power broker Jack Quinn in winning a pardon for the biggest tax fugitive in American history, Marc Rich. Mr. Rich - who is worth about $1.5 billion and ran away to Switzerland - is white. Mr. Holder is black. I would like to hear his in-depth explanation as it relates to, as he puts it, "things racial." I probably would beg to differ - it's about clout, power and money.

I think a better indicator of us cowards is not race but money.

CARL SEGVICH

Republican Committeeman, 11th Ward

Chicago

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has no moral authority to determine anyone's courage or cowardice. His actions as deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration deprive him of that authority.