Advancement Project

July 15, 2009

Judge Sonia Sotomayor is Right-Heritage and Experience Matter

Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s previous statements about how her experiences as “a wise Latina” could help her reach better conclusions than a White male who hasn’t had her experiences has put race and identity on the front burner. The reactions to the statement during this week's Senate confirmation hearings belie the myth that we now live in a post-racial society.

What has been missing form the coverage of Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” comment are other statements she has made that reveal her judicial temperament. Sotomayor acknowledges that her gender and heritage inform her perceptions but she has also said that good judges have an internal struggle to keep their emotions from influencing their judicial decisions, which must be based on the law.

Sotomayor shows that she is unlike many in the United States who feel that race is such a loaded issue that they are better off denying its existence. People who hold such views often make statements like: I’m color blind. I don’t see race. Research has shown otherwise. Numerous medical studies have confirmed that African Americans are less likely to be referred for follow-up medical exams than White Americans with the same medical conditions who have the same class status. Another study that showed that those with resumes bearing black-sounding names are 50 percent less likely to be contacted for job interviews than white applicants even when the qualifications on those resumes are identical.

As a Black male I have had the experience, many times, of unintentionally scaring White Americans. There have been numerous times, particularly when I worked in offices in New York where the mere sight of me, caused someone White to literally jump out of fear or refuse to get into an elevator with me. The fear on their part had nothing to do with me but their perceptions and judgments of African Americans, which were anything but race-neutral. Those experiences, although hurtful, taught me something. I don’t know how or even if they would affect my decisions, if I was a judge, but they did shape my understanding of race through personal experience.

Clearly, race does matter and I think it’s a good thing that a judge is being considered for the Supreme Court who understands this. Her background, including her efforts to diversify the curriculum at Princeton University, where there was a dearth of courses about Latino history or culture, indicates that she knows that both heritage and race need to be discussed, acknowledged and dealt with. To me, her nomination would be troubling if she didn't feel that race and heritage merit attention.

If you clearly read the “Wise Latina” statement Sotomayor didn’t say that as a Latina she would make better decisions than any White male but a White male who has not had the same experiences, meaning one who did not go through the struggles she faced. There are White Americans, despite the greater advantages they have generally, who grow up poor, in difficult circumstances where survival is a struggle. She acknowledged that.

Sotomayor, like many People of Color, does have insights and experiences that many White Americans do not have. Latinos and African Americans have to function within their own cultures and the majority White culture, understanding the norms, values, speech styles and cultural patterns of White America to achieve professional success. The same is not asked of White Americans who are far more likely to have few experiences living or working among people of color.

Sotomayor has had to be bicultural. I have not read a whole lot about her background. But she knew hardship growing up in the South Bronx. She is nearly 20 years younger than my father and uncles but her experiences remind me of theirs. They grew up, partly, in the South Bronx like Sotomayor. Sotomayor’s father like my father’s father had a third-grade education. They, too, were raised mostly by a single mother.

My grandmother, an immigrant from another Caribbean island, Jamaica, sewed in factories during the day and took in sewing at night to keep a roof over her children’s heads. She knew hardship and what it was like to have to ask a friend for food when cash was running short. My father, as a child, learned what it was like to go to school in the South Bronx that did not give homework or books to take home. He remembers wondering why.

A couple of years ago, my uncle told me about how he had to carefully navigate the streets of his old neighborhood because going down the wrong block would mean having to fight his way out of there.

Like Sotomayor’s mother, my grandmother struggled to attain a middle class life and send her kids to college. One uncle went to Harvard, my father to Syracuse and Juilliard and my other uncle joined the Navy. Although they achieved success, they remember what it was like to overcome disadvantages that others did not have. It informed their life. Today, all three are still engaged in trying to make a difference in the lives of people of color.

A background like Sotomayor’s, and like my father’s and his uncles,’ enrich one’s life. And, yes, Judge Sotomayor, I agree, the experiences of a wise Latina with your background will bring insights that others do not have.

Rushing, is the writer-editor of Advancement Project, a national civil rights organization that advocates for racial justice.