WASHINGTON, DC – “Shut Up”  — that’s the advice from Attorney General Eric Holder to the person leaking information about the Michael Brown investigation.   Brown’s August shooting death set off weeks of protests in Ferguson, Missouri.  Holder says the leaks are not productive. He was speaking at the Washington Ideas Forum on Wednesday.

“This notion of leaking out selective information, which started as early as the release from the tape of that candy store, the convenience store, and then these leaks about what happened in the car, these are all the kinds of things I think are inappropriate. I said I’m exasperated, it’s a nice way of saying I’m mad. Whoever the sources of the leaks are, they need to shut up.”

When it comes to the Ferguson police department, Holder says, in his words, “wholesale change is appropriate.”

The Attorney General also said people are still too reluctant to talk about issues of race.

“I’ve been criticized a great deal for the use of that language, but I’ve never backed off the use of that language.  If you look at the incidents that have happened since I gave that speech, whether it was Shirley Sherrod or other things,” Holder said.    “I think we have this episodic interest in race, where we have conversations that I think are too superficial, and without confronting these racial issues that continue to divide us, and going beyond conversations, coming up with concrete actions, we’re going to continue to face these kinds of problems.”