Stupid White Men Ridicule, Demean And Humiliate Wise Latina

The white men of the Republican party are out in force today, with their white sheets and pointy hats, weapons loaded and pointing at a middle-aged, middle-class, former prosecutor who put lots of people in prison, politically moderate woman, committed to at least ridiculing, demeaning and humiliating her if they can't completely destroy her. Sotomayor must be ridiculed as an object lesson to everyone else in this society, all the minorities, all the women, the poor, the excluded, everyone who is not a rich white powerful man.

Here's their message to the rest of us: Don't ever say out loud that you have accomplished anything, that you are smart, that you are worthy or entitled to your position, or suggest you are the equal of white men.

That's all that's going on with this whole obsession on the "Wise Latina" comment made by Sotomayor. At some point in what apparently was a speech she gave in many places, she made the comment that as a "Wise Latina" she had a certain perspective on the world which is meritorious. The white men, the Republicans, have gone mad at her arrogance. How dare she. Not only is she female, she's not even white. (Don't ever try to tell Republicans that Hispanics are white -- they get crazed when they hear that).

She'll be confirmed. But the outcome of this hearing will be that women and minorities will be unlikely to say anything good about themselves or their accomplishments in public for fear of being ridiculed by the white men who run things. Can't you just see some Mexican-American woman standing up for herself at work, telling her boss that she's not going to be pushed around just because she's a woman, or just because she's a Hispanic woman, and her boss will come back dripping with sarcasm: "Oh, I suppose you're a "Wise Latina." Is that it?

Stupid white men. Sotomayor won't say it. But the rest of us can. And maybe they are terrified stupid white men, terrified because in their world view a Hispanic or woman should never be nominated for anything. Terrified because our president is not white. Terrified because their share of the bribes has slipped, and they need to turn that around so it will be worthwhile for them to continue to sell their votes. Terrified men often commit horrendous acts in an effort to keep what they have, destroy who they perceive as their "enemy." Which in this case would probably be most of us. Most of us are the enemies of these Stupid White Men.

One more thing: gender and race obviously affect how people view the world and will affect how they interpret and apply the law. That is why it is so devastating that our courts are packed with right-wing white men as judges, and women and minorities continue to be largely excluded from those positions. We need a fairer representation in the courts to ensure a fair application of the law to all. The way things are now, the upper-class white male judges tend to believe other upper class white males and to discredit the testimony of working class and poor people, women and minorities. That's why so many courts consistently rule in favor of corporations in allowing them to loot and destroy our country, and rule against the working people who are the immediate victims of corporate crime.

Other than that, this whole thing is a circus. Let's get Medicare for all and end the wars, shut down the death squads being run by the government, create immediate jobs programs, and prosecute all the criminals from the Bush administration and from Wall Street. If anybody up there was really wise, and not corrupt, that's what we would be doing. Instead of this circus. Peeeea-nuts, Pop-coooorn.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/us/politics/15confirm.html?_r=1&hp