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Outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder gave what reads like an exit interview to MSNBC's Joy-Ann Reid for New York magazine. Always blunt, Holder doesn't disappoint in this interview, giving America an "F" on matters of race -- as in "failed."

Reid flashed back to 15 years ago when Holder, then deputy attorney general, said that "there was a sense of mistrust between black communities and police that needed to be bridged" after another high-profile police brutality case.

Sound familiar? Sure does.

Reid: What does it say that we essentially are in the same place now, so many years later?

Holder: It means that we, as a nation, have failed. It's as simple as that. We have failed. We have understood that these issues have existed long before even that 2001 memorandum by that then-young deputy attorney general. These are issues that we've been dealing with for generations.

And it's why we have to seize this opportunity that we now have. We have a moment in time that we can, perhaps, come up with some meaningful change. It's what I'm committed to doing, even in the limited time I have left as attorney general. And I'll certainly continue to do it after I leave office.

It's what this administration is committed to. But I also feel that the nation is really ready for this kind of change. And I would hope that, 10 years from now, 12 years from now, we will not look back on this as a lost opportunity.

I think, in particular, what happened in New York with the whole Garner matter which I can't really get into, because it's something that we are still in the process of investigating has galvanized the nation. And I think that we have to take advantage of this spirit, this feeling that exists now in our country, and make it better.

Holder, of course, has only a few weeks left on the job, with Loretta Lynch his likely replacement. He has been traveling across the country takingmeetings on race relations and the criminal justice system. Holder said his proudest achievement is the Smart on Crime initiative--a move to ease mandatory sentencing and mass incarceration.

In her confirmation hearings, Lynch will certainly be grilled on her record, but also on Holder's record and rhetoric and whether she would be a similar attorney general. Civil rights leaders and activists have applauded Holder for his bold rhetoric,casting him as "Obama's Luther." On that score Lynch, should she be confirmed, would step into the job with big expectations, with fired-up activists looking to her to continue on Holder's path.

Here is the original post:
The Fix: Eric Holder sets high bar on racial rhetoric for next attorney general