A Nation of Cowards, or a Nation Divided?

Yesterday, I decided to be "informed" and tune in to CSPAN.
All. Day. I watched "The State of the Black Nation" and the CPAC Convention. Both were interesting. I couldn't help but notice that Michael Steele was at the State of the Black Nation, and not the CPAC convention. That makes me wonder, but that's not why I'm here. Heck, I have quite a few conservative views, too, but you couldn't have PAID me to be in a place where I would have felt so... awkward.
Anyhow, the speeches were shown out of order from the way they went live at the CPAC convention, so I watched Rush Limbaugh first. He was supposed to speak for 20 minutes. Dude spoke for an hour and 37 minutes. I have no real problem with this man because I know where he stands. All of his rage and opinions are right out there in the atmosphere, so when he does his business on the air, I am not all shocked and amazed or anything like that. I respect that- let me know who you are, so I can either totally love you or avoid you like the plague.
Next, I watched Newt Gingrich.
Here. Is. My. Issue. It is my opinion that Newt Gingrich is a douche bag. A dumb, word twisting, manipulative, inciting douche bag. He spoke for the majority of his time discussing how Eric Holder "described everyone in here the crowd as cowards". EVERYONE knows that is not true. However, he stated it over and over again, and even went so far as to say that if Eric Holder thought he was a coward, that he would "take him on, any time, any place". Sigh. TKO.
Although it was not the greatest choice of words, Mr. Holder said when it comes to HAVING A DISCUSSION ABOUT RACE, we are a nation of cowards. I think that's the truth. Its getting better, but its still the truth for now. Everywhere in our great nation, children are being harshly judged by their peers and their parents for being too dark, too light, having the "wrong" hair, or even the wrong interests. To be smart means you want to be white. To listen to R&B or Hip Hop means you want to be black. To be eloquent means you want to be white. To have rhythm or wear loose clothes means you want to be black. I could go on forever, but here is my point: We DO need to have a discussion about race and diversity. It needs to start at home, and branch out into all areas of our lives. We can start by telling our children that its okay, really okay to be who we are and look how we look. Then, we need to tell them that its okay to like what we like, and that its okay to try something or be something different.
I like Linkin Park. I also like JayZ. I liked them even more together. And so what?
We are the world's greatest nation, and free because of that. And that DOES mean we can be with who we want, for the better or for the detriment. We are, though, TOO DIVIDED. Not only are we divided racially, in our respective races we are divided by age, class, income, neighborhood, interest, and God only knows what else. Because of this, we all fear and mistrust each other, over the slightest difference. This makes us loathe and mistreat each other. This sucks, because we have more in common than we know. If we wake up tomorrow and CNN says that terrorists have compromised our safety, we are all screwed. All of us together. That's what we need to be a better nation, too. All of us. Together. And so what if I feel that way?