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Indirectly referencing Clippers owner Donald Sterling and Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder said that hateful rants and intolerant public statements that have filled recent headlines are not the most pressing issue in the ongoing fight for equal opportunity.

Instead, in a commencement address Saturday, Holder challenged 850 graduates at Baltimores Morgan State University to fight against disciplinary, voting and other policies that quietly and gradually harm minorities.

This is the work that truly matters because policies that disenfranchise specific groups are more pernicious than hateful rants, Holder said, according to prepared remarks. Proposals that feed uncertainty, question the desire of a people to work, and relegate particular Americans to economic despair are more malignant than intolerant public statements, no matter how many eyebrows the outbursts might raise.

He cited the criminal courts as an example, referencing a federal study released last year that found black men and Native Americans endure prison sentences far longer than white men for similar crimes.

A criminal justice system that treats groups of people differently and punishes them unequally has a much more negative impact than misguided words that we can reject out of hand, he said.

The comments delivered Saturday on a school football field before seated graduates have been cast as Holder's most significant remarks on race since early in his tenure when he derided Americans as "cowards" who segregated themselves on weekends, including by going to the "race-protected cocoons" known as malls.

On Saturday, he again said discussion about civil rights should not be something avoided. Holder didnt mention Sterling or Bundy by name but instead cited jarring reminders of the discrimination, outbursts of bigotry and isolated, repugnant, racist views that have been in the news during the past few weeks and months.

The NBA has said Sterling was recorded telling a friend not to associate with black people. Bundy, a cattle rancher who has refused to recognize the federal governments authority, recently told a reporter that blacks were perhaps better off as slaves than as poor people reliant on government subsidies today. After criticism nationwide, both white men said they were not racist.

Holder said swift condemnation and apologies were not enough.

Because if we focus solely on these incidents on outlandish statements that capture national attention and spark outrage on Facebook and Twitter we are likely to miss the more hidden, and more troubling, reality behind the headlines," Holder said.

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Eric Holder to grads: Biggest civil rights issue not 'hateful rants'

hide captionAttorney General Eric Holder.

Attorney General Eric Holder.

During separate commencement addresses, Attorney General Eric Holder and first lady Michelle Obama delivered a similar message: On this 60th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which desegregated schools, we should acknowledge that progress has been made, but in many ways systematic racism still exists, albeit in a more subtle way that is just as sinister.

The Kansas City Star reports that Obama spoke at the graduating ceremony for five Topeka high schools Friday night. According to the paper, Obama said schools, for example, are still segregated and "too often, those schools aren't equal, especially ones attended by students of color, which too often lag behind with crumbling classrooms and less experienced teachers."

The paper adds:

" 'Too many folks are still stopped on the street because of the color of their skin, or they're made to feel unwelcome because of where they're from, or they're bullied because of who they love.'

"The Brown decision, she said, isn't about the past. It's about the future.

"She called on students to battle deep-seated prejudices that persist years after the civil rights movement swept across the country.

" 'Graduates, it's up to all of you to lead the way and drag my generation and your grandparents' generation along with you,' she said."

Holder spoke at Morgan State University. Referring to the Donald Sterling fiasco, Holder said that the past few weeks have given us a perfect example of clear, "outbursts of bigotry."

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Holder: Subtle Racism Is Greater Threat Than 'Outbursts Of Bigotry'

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 (+video)

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.

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition

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.

Share those pearls of wisdom, send us your best graduation advice!

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Eric Holder: Condemning bigoted remarks isn't enough

Policies described as race neutral often pose a greater threat to equality than insensitive comments that result in media attention, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told graduates of Morgan State University.

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, Holder said today at the historically black college in Baltimore, Maryland.

Such threats are more subtle. They cut deeper. And their terrible impact endures long after the headlines have faded and obvious, ignorant expressions of hatred have been marginalized, he said.

Although Holder, 63, didnt specify any racist outbursts, his speech comes just weeks after recordings surfaced in which Don Sterling, the owner of the National Basketball Associations Los Angeles Clippers, told a friend not to bring black people to his teams games or post photos of herself with basketball legend Earvin Magic Johnson.

Within days, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling from the league and started proceedings to force him to sell the franchise. The comments generated intense media coverage and discussions on social media, including Facebook and Twitter.

Holder, the first black to serve in the highest U.S. law enforcement post, in his commencement address said that threats to equality no longer reside in overtly discriminatory statutes like the separate but equal laws of 60 years ago.

Holder, who delivered his speech on the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that outlawed racially segregated public schools, said the more insidious forms of discrimination include zero tolerance school-discipline practices that affect black males at a rate three times higher than their white peers.

Other forms of subtle discrimination include laws that result in stiffer prison sentences for blacks and other minorities than whites, as well as voter-identification statutes that proponents say are intended to halt fraud at the polls, he said. Several states have passed such laws in recent years.

The attorney general said voter fraud has never been shown to exist, and such laws disproportionately disenfranchise African Americans, Hispanics, other communities of color and vulnerable populations such as the elderly.

Interfering with or depriving a person the right to vote should never be a political aim, Holder said. Its a moral failing.

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Holder Warns Graduates of More Subtle Forms of Discrimination