What does the author mean when he says that the american conversation about race has “become as bloodless as badminton”?

What the writer means when he conveyed that the American conversation about race has turn out to be as bloodless as badminton is that it has turned and twisted into a discussion or debate where the two sides are just basically going backward and forward arguing with no distinct champion. 

- "he is a very real person and his intent isn't to influence us vonnegut addresses this towards the end of the letter when he says, if we choose to curse, that is by our own individual means."

they fear for their lives