Monthly Archives: July 2009

It’s been “something” watching excerpts of the hearings for Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court. You don’t have to be a Democrat to know that her “wise Latina” remark is not the problem at hand. To those that oppose her nomination, Sotomayor perfectly personifies further threat to the status quo (Obama was a big one).

I completely understand narrowing in on controversial statements she’s made for the sake of raising questions about her ability to be impartial. I even understand taking what she’s said out of context so that it fits nicely into the argument to discredit her. That’s all part of the good fight. And all is fair in love and war, or Supreme Court justice nominations, right?

Wrong. What I do not understand is the complete disregard for the fall out from all the race baiting. Forget bipartisan tension – that’s nothing new as of late. What is completely unforgiveable to me is the blatant disrespect for the very sensitive topic of racism. A painful issue that is still fresh ever since the ’08 election, with seemingly increasing rumblings of discontent from hate groups and organizations. What we’re watching is a group of powerful white men systematically calling a Latin woman an angry racist, incapable of upholding the rule of law. Day after day there’s new footage and transcripts with the most shameful attacks on a nominee who by all accounts is going to be confirmed pretty easily given the number of Senators who support her. I am not highlighting any of the attacks, they are depressing and you can find/hear them easily on the news.

You don’t have to be a pundit to see that this is and was a complete failure of a strategy from a party that has suffered more than enough blows already. Sonia Sotomayor is absolutely going to be confirmed, and then we’ll only be left with the added fuel to an already tense racial climate. Time will only tell how trying to scare white folks about this “radical Latina” plays out. God bless us all.