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Graham Overly Critical of Sotomayor's “Wise Latina” Comment (1502 hits)

On Tuesday, July 14, I watched as South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham questioned Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor about her distinguished record as a federal court judge. Judge Sotomayor just happens to be the first Latina woman nominated for this judgeship. But my skin crawled when Senator Graham lambasted Judge Sotomayor about her “wise Latina” comment.

Senator Graham believes that if he had said the experiences of a wise Caucasian man better equip him to use “sound judgment” when making court decisions, his career would have been over. And he would have been right, resulting from his being a member of the controlling majority. We must never forget that the ancestors of this same controlling majority, or white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant males and females, ascended to power by stepping on the backs of Hispanics, African-Americans and other persons of color. And even though America has come a long way in healing the wounds suffered during its racist past, many members of this controlling majority continue to walk around thinking they are God’s gift to mankind, thus diminishing the varied contributions of other racial/ethnic groups.

Senator Graham is also ignorant to the fact that many persons of color on the grassroots level are unable to take advantage of educational and vocational opportunities because access is often denied. I believe this denial of access results from the existence of longstanding “good ol’ boy" networks that welcome white males and females with open arms but turn a blind eye and deaf ear to Hispanics, African-Americans and other persons of color applying for the same jobs. If these networks had been more inviting to persons of color, we wouldn’t be prefacing Sonia Sotomayor’s name with “the first Latina woman to be…”

I applaud Judge Sotomayor for using phrases like “wise Latina” to inspire Hispanic children and adolescents. Senator Graham and others like him should be doing the same. A wise Latina understands that there are better days ahead, that a day will arrive in America when, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., persons are judged by the content of their characters rather than the color of their skins. But I don’t think this message registered with Senator Graham. He seems to be on a mission to classify Judge Sotomayor as an activist judge. But I have one question for Senator Graham: Doesn’t the legacy of American racism and discrimination require that all persons of color assert themselves as activists, especially as it pertains to our inalienable rights to life, liberty and happiness?

Activists are committed to changing the status quo, or business as usual. If most of the firefighters in a department are white, the administrators in that department must make intentional strides to recruit, hire and retain more persons of color. If a college or university serves as a haven for mostly white students, college recruiters must make intentional strides to equip and identify students of color who can thrive on their campus. It doesn’t take a genius to know that these efforts must be made to level the playing field. But we must ask ourselves, are our powerful and influential white brothers and sisters willing to make these intentional strides.

I wish Sonia Sotomayor would respond in a way that lets these senators know that America has a long way to go in leveling the playing field for all Americans. But she won’t. Like most persons of color who ascend to powerful positions, she is going to appease the controlling majority by saying what they want to hear. Shameful? Yes. But let all of us hope that when she gets confirmed, she will not forget where she came from, that she will extend her hand to the other minority men and women, boys and girls, who want to lead prosperous lives.

What do you think?

I look forward to reading your responses.

Jeffery A. Faulkerson, MSSW
THE PURPOSEFUL WRITER
www.purposefulwriter.blogspot.com

Posted By: J. A. Faulkerson
Wednesday, July 15th 2009 at 10:41AM
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Sister Sotomayor "play the game" to get you where you know you will be ... the High Court. That's just politics as usual.
Wednesday, July 15th 2009 at 2:06PM
Jen Fad

Anybody care to comment about the "good ol' boy" networks that continue to exist in this country? Their existence is one of the reasons why progress for persons of color has been so slow.
Wednesday, July 15th 2009 at 2:35PM
J. A. Faulkerson

Being white affects how the white justices and every other white male (and female )makes a decision. Why is it that people of color are the only ones who cannot be affected by who they are ethnically and the experiences they encountered in life?
Why is it that people of color are the only ones who are supposed to be color bllind. Is Sotomayor supposed to forget that she is latina and pretend to be white like white people do when they need some more white people?
Saturday, July 18th 2009 at 5:43PM
Thomasena Martin-Johnson

Irma,
Thank you for the complement.

I hope you don't mind if I borrow you come back. It was right on time. We spend so much time trying to be "politically correct" that we fail to support our selves. We are the only so called minority that works so hard to accommodate the oppressor. How many white people do you see in Chinese restaurent, or any other ethnically owned establishment?

We are afraid of being called "prejudice". Well, my dictionary days that that word means to pre-judge; well the white man has laid enough road before us that we don't have to pre-judge. Most, (99.9%) of what we believe and see is the truth and has been done before. Dr. Phil says that the best predictor of future behavior is past performance. The man is true to form.

Friday, July 24th 2009 at 6:39PM
Thomasena Martin-Johnson

Preach, people, preach. Your commentaries are on point. Thank you for contributing to the conversation. What do you think about the inpromptu speech that President Obama delivered Friday afternoon?
Saturday, July 25th 2009 at 10:48AM
J. A. Faulkerson

Jeffery,
As the chief executive officer of the "Great United States", he can say what the h____ he wants to. I just wish that he had not taken it back or apologized for saying it. However, white America likes apologies whether they mean them or not because they usually don't mean them. I can't believe that in a town like Cambridge, a noted Harvard Professor would not be known. In Boston maybe, but Cambridge is not that big. What does that say about the intellect of the employees at the University and the police department? I just believe that what happened to Dr. Gates, is a blatant example of just how far we have come and the fallout of the last election.
Wednesday, July 29th 2009 at 6:51PM
Thomasena Martin-Johnson

Mozell you are so correct and I will come right out an say it, She(as all minoritys)has to know when to KISS ASS and whose to kiss at that time. some examples,
Would have her bringing up Thurgood Marshall's being allow on to the supereme court and as a token have any thing to do with it taking hundreds of years in getting this country of freedoms to get Jim crow not the 100% law of this land?The all White supreme court is what got Jim Crow made legally binding in the first place!!!!!!

And, do you believe that this Black man , Justice Marshall,although alone was racist or wrong to do this. to challenge this Jim Crow law? but, it took another Black person to help our courts to enforce Brown vs Board of Education with the help of the military and riots and more deaths by the hands of the KKK . This was Dr. M.L. King not the White men on the Supreme court!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not only is Judge Sonia Sotomajor killing ass, she is not trying to enforce her first ammendmant rights nor many of her civil rights, because to do so she will be disqualified to sit on the court. You and I know this and if we do not then may the God you love protect you, because the way these Republican right-wing Senators in their efforts in these hearings to keep racism alive, will be needed!!!!

Hell, these very White men do not believe qualified minoritys means any thing in White majority America, because they believe that to be raised in a family without a male head of that family is a threat to our national security and morality!!!!!!(smile)If we leave out governor Palin and the Bush's twinsbouts with the law.LOL!!!

Again, I remind you how none of this may not have come about if another Bush was still in the Whitehouse. In other words White racist being able to out racist the next White racist to get into and to ramain in office...or have you forgotten how it was the White male dominated supreme court that put Bush in officeand not the voters...(smile)
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM
ROBINSON IRMA

...but, when we look at it from this point of view Judge Sonia Sotomajor is not kissing ass, but much like the president she does not have to speak her mind, because we in the public are doing it for her and for Mr.Obama. for example

The mass cable media, leaving outthose WISE WHITE MEN over on fox, are allowing those Wise Latino women to explain and to say what she meant that the Republicans refuse to even try to understand beyond using he speeches as a weapon against this judge...These media out lets are having these minority women talk about how when they are seen in court by theise 'wise White men" their first thought is that they are there in court because they are court reporters or some attorney's wife. It seem never to occur to theseWise White men that they to are attorneys just as they are!!!!!!

YES WE CAN(smile)
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM
ROBINSON IRMA

Jeffery, what you just said is why it took someone like our present president by appointing two minority people taking the lead in this by appointing these two minority females to over see his pet projects being raised in a single family home in order to get your very point across on how it was the government that has kept us down by not forcing our public to put and end to this hate speech over our public air waves...more people get educated by the bias and personal prejudices of the people had picked to come before their cameras and Fox network is the lead in tis pratice under their "Fair and Balanced" slogan."i" believe his pet projects are health care for the average citizen and getting more than minority TOKENS on our highest court. somethings the White presidents have not been able to do...take our government out of the hands of the big business lobbyand giving it back to the 'average' voters hands!!!!!!!!(I love to think that the Republican party will never again be able to run on the BASE they have been running on for too long as it only promotes racism and ignorance not law makes like Judge Sonia Sotomajor...of any skin color or gender that comes close to her out looks on mankind not just the laws that should still be changed.

And, by the way I will add that our president has just added the hate crime bill to the defence department's bill before congress right now-today!!!

Maybe now those like Senator John Kerry who said during the last campaign that he was going to file suit over the mass TV nes medias put an end to manipulating the news over our public air waves.(smile)
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM
ROBINSON IRMA

Thomasena, what you just said it what i believed that was and is going to be the nightmare of the 'former' rulers of our U.S. government, or WHITE RULE. I believe that they could not get away from nor be able to accept this judges ethnic pride. The pride she had made in her statements (out side of the court)that reminded these 'wise White men' that the days of "tokenism" on the Supreme Court is over also therefore the only thing going over and over in their conscious brain was these realities over and over and nothing else would come in. This is why every time these right-wings time to question her would come, the happier it made me.

maybe by the next person of color and the next person of color and the next in the next 8 years will give them time to recover.(smile)right now, we must just try to accept that this is their FIRST!!!!!LOL

and, you have such a beautiful and unique name, Thomasena...

and during the next election in 2012 maybe even voting by skin color will be the social norm...so this should take care of that need to even bring in that old standby of "I do not see color" Beccause if someone comes to me with this no color blind bull, I will give them the same dressing I dso with the, some of my best friends are Black"! my set come back to this is, "some of my worst enemys are Black" which never not leave them with nothing to say which they should have kept their mouths shut in the first place...
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM
ROBINSON IRMA