”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,” Sonia Sotomayor October 26, 2001.
This statement was made by the Supreme Court nominee. I have a problem with this statement. The implication is a white man could not reach a fair conclusion because his experience as a white man disqualifies him from understanding. If a white man made this statement in reference to a black man and that white man was being considered for the Supreme Court Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would be leading a rally to derail that nomination. We can not have it both ways. Minorities do not have an innate right to say anything they want without any consequences. Trent Lott lost his Senate leadership position when he said, “I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years, either.” This statement led to his removal as Senate leader because his critics said this statement indicated he was a racist. He was held responsible for his words even if he had no racist motive. So Sotomayor has to be held accountable for her words. Is this enough to pull the nomination? No, but as Ricky Ricardo used to say about Lucy—she’s got some explaining to do.
Strangely enough, Newt is not the Antichrist he’s been made out to be. If you take the time to read some of his work, to view his video series, you will see he makes common sense. He’s one of the reasons I left the Democratic Party and took my first step to the Right. He talked about how the welfare system (as is existed at the time) trapped blacks into poverty, because it gave a dis incentie to people to set up small businesses like hair salons from their homes because they would lose their government support. He talked about how blacks miss out on the benefits of Social (in)seurity because of shorter lifespans and the fact that they cannot leave their benefits to their children. His concept is good; the execution of it fell terribly short, and if it can be revisited and properly executed, I believe blacks would embrace much of what he advocates.
Comment by Elogam — June 8, 2009 @ 3:06 pm