Sotomayor's apparently interchangeable WOC identity

[ccharles000]

WOC=woman of color

Consider, for a moment, the latest issue of the National Review:



I know I should have a more sophisticated initial reaction to this, but, um, WTF?!!


Some white men got very upset when Sonia Sotomayor expressed pride in the fact that she is a Puerto Rican Latina, and noted that her identity shapes her worldview. This was controversial to conservatives because "white man" is not an identity, and therefore white men are not influenced by identity. Only people of color, immigrants, LGBTQ folks, and women have "identities" -- which they must ignore, lest they be considered biased.


Conservatives apparently took Sotomayor's comment as license to consider her and every other woman of color as THE SAME. Politico compares her to an African American woman. The racist Oklahoman cartoon implies she's Mexican. Now the National Review portrays her as South Asian.(Can you blame them? I mean, how could they possibly portray a Latina as "wise"? Those things are antithetical! Gotta turn to a different stereotype. /sarcasm )


Apparently if you're not white or male, it really doesn't matter what your racial or ethnic identity is. They're all interchangeable. You're just Other.

http://www.feministing.com/archives/015898.html

[hvn_nbr_2]

1. That cover art is truly bizarro.

They must have some good meds in the first aid box at National Review.

[secondwind]

2. I like it!

[Zynx]

3. Ummmmm....What?!

[NYC_SKP]

4. ..."seminal decisions in race and sex discrimination.. ...Courts composed exclusively of white males

Context is Everything...And what she said is simply the truth.

"...In our private conversations, Judge Cedarbaum has pointed out to me that seminal decisions in race and sex discrimination cases have come from Supreme Courts composed exclusively of white males. I agree that this is significant but I also choose to emphasize that the people who argued those cases before the Supreme Court which changed the legal landscape ultimately were largely people of color and women. I recall that Justice Thurgood Marshall, Judge Connie Baker Motley, the first black woman appointed to the federal bench, and others of the NAACP argued Brown v. Board of Education. Similarly, Justice Ginsburg, with other women attorneys, was instrumental in advocating and convincing the Court that equality of work required equality in terms and conditions of employment.

Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my colleague Judge Cedarbaum, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging. Justice O'Connor has often been cited as saying that a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases. I am not so sure Justice O'Connor is the author of that line since Professor Resnik attributes that line to Supreme Court Justice Coyle. 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.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8435511