I am the attorney general of the United States. But I am also a black man.
Interpretation
Eric Holder emphasizes the duality of his identity as both a high-ranking official and a black man.
This quote reflects Eric Holder's acknowledgement of the intersection of his professional role and personal identity. It highlights the complexities that individuals face, particularly in leadership positions, where personal experiences and societal issues intersect significantly, especially within the context of race and justice in America.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about diversity in leadership roles.
While he was in the service, in the South and in Oklahoma, he was refused service at a couple of places where he was in uniform, and was told that African Americans, blacks, Negros, were not served. And in spite of that, I've never known a man who loved this country more than my father did.
Guantanamo is a chief recruiting tool for al-Qaida. It has put a wedge between the United States and at least some of its allies.
Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards
In a lot of ways, civil rights division is the conscience of the Justice Department. You can almost measure what kind of Justice Department you have by what kind of civil rights division that you have.
One of the things I learned is that you've got to deal with the underlying social problems if you want to have an impact on crime - that it's not a coincidence that you see the greatest amount of violent crime where you see the greatest amount of social dysfunction.
Those who peacefully gather to express sympathy for the family of Michael Brown must have their rights respected at all times. And journalists must not be harassed or prevented from covering a story that needs to be told.
One thing my dad's always told me about leadership is when all hell's breaking loose, everyone's looking at you to see how you're handling it. If you're frantic and out of control, they're going to be frantic and out of control. If you're calm, cool and collected and doing the right things, they'll follow you.
You need to understand, if you take out a government, take out a regime, guess who becomes the government and regime and is responsible for the country? You are. So if you break it, you own it.
The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.
Teamwork makes the dream work, but a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team.
Leadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do it.
The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.
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