Eric Holder: Condemning bigoted remarks isn't enough
Speaking at Morgan State University's commencement address in Baltimore, Attorney General Eric Holder referenced recent high-profile expressions of bigotry in the US, and said public outrage is not enough to fight persistent discrimination.
Attorney GeneralEricHoldersaid on Saturday while public utterances of bigotry are roundly condemned in theUnited Statesracial discrimination persists in more subtle ways.
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Speaking on the 60th anniversary of a landmarkSupreme Courtruling outlawing segregation in public schools,Holdersaid that public outrage over recent instances of bigoted remarks by well-known people did not mean the struggle for civil rights is over.
"These outbursts of bigotry, while deplorable, are not the true markers of the struggle that still must be waged, or the work that still needs to be done - because the greatest threats do not announce themselves in screaming headlines. They are more subtle. They cut deeper," he said in a prepared commencement address atMorgan State UniversityinBaltimore.
"... We ought not find contentment in the fact that these high-profile expressions of outright bigotry seem atypical and were met with such swift condemnation."
Holder, the nation's first African-American attorney general, didn't mention a specific case but racist comments by the owner of theNBA's Los Angeles Clippers,Donald Sterling, that were made public last month received substantial media attention and were widely condemned by the league, players, public officials and on social media.
Since the 1954 Brown vs. Board of EducationSupreme Courtdecision,Holdersaid laws that are overtly discriminatory no longer survive the "strict scrutiny" legal standard.
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Eric Holder: Condemning bigoted remarks isn't enough