I'm taking bets on the new Supreme Court Justice nominee Sonia Sotomeyer. So what's the bet you ask? I'd like to know just how long is it going to take for right wing nutjobs to say that Sonia Sotomayor, the new Supreme Court Justice nominee doesn't have a Green Card? Yup, how long is it going to take for some asshole to say that she needs to produce her birth certificate or else be deported to that horrible third world nation of Puerto Rico, without even realizing that it's U.S. territory?Yeah, how long is it going to take before she is also deemed Un-American in spite of struggle to get to where she is currently? I mean, how come all the "Americans" are republicans? Well, I don't know how long it's gonna take for them to say that exactly. But I do know that already they're saying that she's racist. Seriously, that's has been the talk even before her announcement as the nominee.
"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion [as a judge] than a white male who hasn't lived that life." -- Judge Sonia Sotomayor, in her Judge Mario G. Olmos Law and Cultural Diversity Lecture at the University of California (Berkeley) School of Law in 2001Yeah, supposedly that statement she made back in 2001 has come back to haunt her. According to my republican buddies, that was a racist statement. Yup, according to them, if a White Judge had said something like that he would have caught all types of hell. Sadly they never provide the proper context:
Judge Sotomayor has given several speeches about the importance of diversity. But her 2001 remarks at Berkeley, which were published by the Berkeley La Raza Law Journal, went further, asserting that judges’ identities will affect legal outcomes.
“Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences,” she said, for jurists who are women and nonwhite, “our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging.”
Her remarks came in the context of reflecting her own life experiences as a Hispanic female judge and on how the increasing diversity on the federal bench “will have an effect on the development of the law and on judging.”
In making her argument, Judge Sotomayor sounded many cautionary notes. She said there was no uniform perspective that all women or members of a minority group have, and emphasized that she was not talking about any individual case.
She also noted that the Supreme Court was uniformly white and male when it delivered historic rulings against racial and sexual discrimination. And she said she tried to question her own “opinions, sympathies and prejudices,” and aspired to impartiality.
Still, Judge Sotomayor questioned whether achieving impartiality “is possible in all, or even, in most, cases.” She added, “And I wonder whether by ignoring our differences as women or men of color we do a disservice both to the law and society.”
She also approvingly quoted several law professors who said that “to judge is an exercise of power” and that “there is no objective stance but only a series of perspectives.”
“Personal experiences affect the facts that judges choose to see,” she said. - Source (New York Times)
Umm, why do White folks always do or say bullshit in an attempt to discredit or downgrade minorities when they make significant accomplishments? And no this isn't the stupid "how come Blacks can say the word nigger but we can't," talk. No, this has nothing to do with what the hell a rapper says in a song. Listen here, and check this out: you belong to the racial majority; there's nothing you can say or do that hasn't been done in history to make the racist past of this country anything less than what it was. This is about some White folks who think they're experts on racism saying dumb shit as a defense. The problem as always is the case with the smear machine is that they conveniently leave out the context or truthiness which is pertinent to the discussion. Instead with their eternal hubris they remain mendacious for political expediency.
I'm serious, they've already played the "she has a chip on her shoulder," card, as well as proclaiming her to be an intellectual lightweight as far as judges go. Lemme guess: this has something to do with her being from the projects and being a minority, right? I mean hell, Michelle Obama wasn't from the projects, but yet they cast her as the angry Black woman as they often do.Although it's nothing new, I have to say that I am sick of people who attempt to downplay race and historical significance because of politics, or their political affiliations or identity. And I'm not just speaking about White folks either. There are some Black folks - namely Conservatives - who in the face of political identity let it be known that they are not proud of Obama's accomplishment even though they share the same skin color. I'm sorry Kevin Jackson, but I'm not feeling you; for a Black man to say that he was more proud of Bush's victory in the elections than Obama's puts you in my Slave Catcher category.
Not saying that you have to be a minority to appreciate Obama's success or the nomination of the first Latino Chief Justice. Rather, being an American as they often label themselves first, they should embrace accomplishments such as this given the history of the experiment in democracy that is the United States of America. A country where diversity should be encouraged and celebrated. A country where your heritage - especially if you're a minority - should not have to take a backseat. Look, your president is black, your Attorney General is Black, and the nominee for the Supreme Court is a Latina; get used to the fact that America is changing. If you can get used to it, then I feel sorry for you, and maybe you should kill yourself.
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