Comments on: Sotomayor’s Diversity Speech – Context

By: bronzeprofessor

bronzeprofessor — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:40:52 +0000

I am flabbergasted. This speech is wrong on so many levels. I can’t believe that the US Senate is even remotely considering this woman for the Supreme Court after this. In as brief terms as possible:

1) Sotomayor refers to “inherent” differences between races and genders. That’s a way of promoting “essentialism.” Anyone in Ethnic Studies (like me, an English professor published in African American lit crit) can tell you that “essentialism” has been roundly debunked for 20 years. A whole subset of ethnic studies called “postcolonialism” basically killed essentialism and no self-respecting academic adheres to it anymore.

2) She’s criminally vague about what “experience” and its effects are. She refers to food but then backs quickly away from that, lest she become blatantly stereotypical. But then every time she comes upon some inherently Latina or female experience she backs away and says we can’t generalize. So what’s the purpose of this whole speech?

3) This speech is way too long and rambling, which is what got her in trouble. If she is this tone-deaf about language and subtlety as a judge, I fear for her jurisprudence. I am not a lawyer so I can’t attest to the legal legitimacy of her logic. But as human experience goes, she’s lacking.

Ah well, sigh, this is sad.

By: TwilightZoned

TwilightZoned — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:45:47 +0000

” First, as Professor Martha Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life. ”

So let me get this straight…since Sotomayor’s quoting Minnow she must believe there is no universal definition of wise. How on God’s green earth then, can she be wiser than anyone else? Is she wise only by HER definition? Then obviously she would not be wise by OTHERS definitions. This is nothing more than double talk and frankly narcissistic on her part.

By: wardmama4

wardmama4 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:05:36 +0000

Very simple – it does not unify, it does not advance, it does not build up, it does absolutely nothing to move America forward to promote, idealize, and push forward special interest group think and the divisiveness of Identity Politics.

Until Judge Sotomayor and the Teleprompter Precedent see themselves as Americans first, foremost and only – they will continue to tear apart, set one citizen ‘group’ upon another, and destroy America.

And that is sedition and treason.

By: canary

canary — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 07:17:11 +0000

Pro I agree. Minorities today tend do believe that everyone white is secretly racist. If there was a way to explain to them, that white people talk behind their backs, don’t make racial slurs. We teach our children not to be racist. We embrace and admire black people everyday. Explain the oppression and poor treatment. Black people’s worst problem is their poor treatment towards each others. Some of their neighborhoods make it difficult for them to get away from danger, crack houses, and gangs. I saw on the news a recent gathering of black people in black neighborhood having a anti-violent
picnic gathering. One of the young men that broke out shooting wounding even children, had been mingling with them all day. One said they’d continue their gatherings, but have security. I read up on Obama’s, his church, his unpatriotism, and no way I’d vote for him. When he won, I prayed, the anger and hatred in his heart would change. Historical feat wasn’t a thought. I thought he’d see that racism isn’t as he believed. And I was happy for black people, believing that if anything good could come from this, it would break down barriers. But, Obama won’t let that happen. He is out for revenge for things before our time. He dated a white girl for a year, whose family accepted him, but he did not want to be a part of the white world. He was constantly angry at white people, and it caused a rif, and he dumped her. He’s still angry.

By: canary

canary — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:43:45 +0000

I wonder why so many people in this country that are so stuck and proud of their origins, don’t go back to them.

By: proreason

proreason — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:39:34 +0000

Decades ago, it was common to make demeaning jokes about people of other races. A very large part of the population had the implicit assumption that non-whites were less capable than white people. This was hard to escape. Even people who clearly weren’t hateful racists went along with the status quo. It’s true that racism permeated the culture.

There has been a dramatic shift in the attitude of whites in the last 40 to 50 years. Hateful racism by whites is extremely rare today. Most whites readily accept that given equal conditions, people of all races are equally capable of succeeding. Minorities are routinely given better opportunities than white people. This is well known. Most people accept it as the new status quo. Resentment against it is, for the most part, muted.

But hateful racism still exists, and it is at a higher pitch and with more anger than whites exhibited, at least in the last half of the 20th century until now.

The racists now are people like Red Sonia, The Moron, Rev Wrong and their fellow curled lip revenge seekers. And the leaders of the mob are the people who were handed their status because of the color of their skin.

By: Liberals Demise

Liberals Demise — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:33:43 +0000

“………….and a VW or Audi.”

By: njyankee

njyankee — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:07:38 +0000

I had intended to read the whole article, but after having reached the 29th time she used “Latino/a” (yes I counted) I just couldn’t stomach it anymore.

“Now, the growth of Latino representation is somewhat less favorable. As of today we have, as I noted earlier, no Supreme Court justices, and we have only 10 out of 147 active Circuit Court judges and 30 out of 587 active district court judges. Those numbers are grossly below our proportion of the population”

I guess this means if I were to just get up and move to Germany I would be entitled to a seat on one of their highest courts? I’m sure that there are enough Americans there that we could all get together and demand seats in proportion to our population, nevermind that I don’t have a law degree or even speak German, the mere fact that we are there entitles us to positions of power, right?