Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Neocons Play the Race Card

Gee. It only took them half a day to play the race card on Sophia Sotomayor.

Newt Gingrich, neocon extraordinaire, is Twittering now that because of a comment Judge Sotomayor made 8 years ago, she should withdraw from her Supreme Court Justice nomination.

Gingrich claims that Judge Sotomayor is unacceptable because she is, and I quote, “a racist.” because she made a comment that he claims is racist.

Not only is this ludicrous on its face, but Gingrich took the whole comment out of its context.

First, here is the comment, uttered by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor that Judge Sotomayor was commenting on:

“…a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases.”

To which Judge Sotomayor responded:

“I am also not so sure that I agree with the statement. 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.”

That is the statement that offends the gentle sensibilities of Newt Gingrich so that he said this:

“Imagine a judicial nominee said 'my experience as a white man makes me better than a Latina woman' new racism is no better than old racism.”

So it seems, according to Gingrich, that Judge Sotomayor is of the opinion that a person’s life experiences in some way makes them a better judge who is able to deliver better decisions.

Does Newt Gingrich agree with that? Who knows? Where it gets him is that the life experiences of a Latina woman will be different than an angry old white guy.

But isn’t that a no-brainer?

After all, what kinds of life experiences do you think Judge Sotomayor was referring to? Riding on the New York subway system?

Hardly. The life experiences I think she was referring to was what it is like being a woman in a world that puts women in second place, and being Hispanic in a society that hates and discriminates against Hispanics.

So because a Latina woman would have more of a personal experience with sexism, racism and discrimination that goes hand in hand with both, and would be wiser than an old white man because of it, that makes her a racist.

Newt Gingrich has it a little wrong. It is the racists who gave Judge Sotomayor her life experiences, not the other way around.

Newt Gingrich has it a little wrong. Racist people are in the driver’s seat. They are the ones running things that makes life so uncomfortable for the discriminated.

How can he get it so upside down, backwards, and turned around?

Could it be because Newt Gingrich is . . . racist?

4 comments:

Duke said...

Howdy Partner. I stumbled upon your blog while surfing the net. Glad I did. It's a gem. Love your insight.

You mind adding me to your blog roll? I'd appreciate the plug.

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Hal,

Did you ever get the post I tried to post multip times? I think there was a glitch that was not allowing it to post for moderation and approval.

Hal said...

Anon,

Never got it.

I always allow comments that don't use profanity and don't attack me personally. If you made a comment that didn't violate either, then something is amiss on Blogger.

Not a big reach there.

Anonymous said...

The race card is played every day 24-7--every time a young Black or Brown man gets a felony conviction and is sentenced for crack cocaine while everybody knows that the pure stuff is in wide use in middle to upper class White neighborhoods/areas; comparatively speaking to Black/Brown drug felony convictions and long jail time sentencing, there is practically a none felony conviction rate and/or jail sentencing for Whites who are users and traffic in drugs in larger numbers.

Look at the daily inconsistencies and double standards accorded to
Blacks/Browns as accorded to Whites; look at how Obama’s 100 day assessment began right out of the gate of his inauguration and continues. Now, on the other hand, Bush was the worst president ever and never talked to us; he made huge, costly blunders; sold out economy and country right from under us and none of the tea baggers who went tea partying against Obama threw tea parties against any of Bush’s very, very, very bad policies, or talked about seceding from the union when Bush and Cheney’s administration was in high gear against all of us.

There was a White Professor at the University of Texas at Austin a few years ago that wrote a paper on White Privilege accorded to white skin. When Sotomayor
Made the statement that is now under attack by the you know who’s. is just so typically as what has become the norm for them.

So, I am of the opinion that Sotomayor was simply referencing the richness and wisdom of her experiences having lived a life as a minority (Hispanic) and a woman which bring another piece to the story of a life lived, and therefore, when deciding cases, she has increased wisdom, perspective, and depth based upon her authentic experiences in wrapping her mind around issues within issues which gives significance to what is the best decision to render when faced with complex issues of law cases placed before her.

I applaud wisdom being brought to the table which includes “that” knowledge of someone who lives in a skin that is “not” privileged and in most instances “that” wisdom of knowledge that Sotomayor references is missing from someone’s life experiences who has lived a life that is/was protected by White Privilege accorded to white skin, through no fault of his/her own, mind you, but nonetheless, living in a white skin does bring protection against harsher injustices versus those who live in a skin which does not bring likewise protection. There are those who will deny what the professor at the University of Texas, in Austin has stated in his essay as being the truth, particularly the Republicans, but if they search the deep crevices of their minds and inner selves and are, indeed, honest, they will know that there truth is being spoken by Robert Jensen’s Essay White Privilege Shapes the U.S.