"Latinos aren't a recent addition to America. They are America."
Nationally syndicated columnist Ruben Navarrette, author of A Darker Shade of Crimson: Odyssey of a Harvard Chicano, wrote two recent columns (here and here) on the low-quality questioning of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, both inside and outside the Senate chamber. Here is an excerpt of last week's column, which focuses on the pundits:It's been surreal to watch pundits ask whether Sotomayor can get along with people who don't look like her and handle the pressure of integrating an institution that lacks diversity.Read the rest of last week's column here.
They must be kidding. She's been doing that since she first stepped on a college campus nearly 40 years ago...
In this week's column, Navarrette turns to the Senate:
Whatever it was that caused the Republicans' blind spot, it is obvious that they need a crash course in Latinos 101. It was painful to watch them willingly surrender any shred of credit that the GOP deserves for putting Sotomayor on the road to make history as the first Latina Supreme Court justice. It was a Republican president - George H.W. Bush - who nominated Sotomayor to the federal bench in 1991. If the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee were smart, they would have mentioned that fact over and over again to advance the notion that Republicans also at times open doors for women and minorities. Instead of playing up the idea of the GOP being a big tent, they advertised it as a restricted club.Read the rest of this week's column here.
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All week I've been hearing from readers - including some who claimed to be conservatives - who said they were shocked at the ignorance that Republican senators showed during their questioning of Sotomayor. Some talked about having served in the military with Latinos or teaching them in public schools or working alongside them. And they all said that, as a result of that kind of exposure, they had come to realize that Latinos aren't a recent addition to America. They are America.
For a free "Latino 101" keep reading HispanicNashville.com
It was beyond embarrassing to watch our elected leaders struggle to ask relevant questions. With Limbaugh stoking the fire, I predict we will see an already ugly racial divide in our political body become unbridgeable.
ReplyDeleteIf i were a Democratic Party Operative, I'd be compiling soundbites to play in the Black and Latino on an endless loop.