Is Sotomayor really racist?

By Joe McAdory

Published: May 27, 2009

In the last 24 hours, both Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh have called U.S. Supreme Court justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor as racist. Those are pretty stiff charges. I don’t know the lady so I’m not going to say she is racist or not. A comment she made during a 2001 speech in Berkely, Calif., however, could be taken as such.

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,“ Sotomayor said in that speech, describing how life experience can inform judicial opinions.

Can a white male make comments about Latina women and it be judged as OK? Not at all, particularly not these days. Was Sotomayor saying that a person of one background does not have the same perception on matters as a person from another background? I don’t know. I don’t have ESP. And why wasn’t a big deal made out of her comment then?

Even the perception of racism is disturbing to me, one way or the other. I do not believe a judge, particularly on the highest court in the land, should make decisions based on skin color. We may be a nation of different people with different backgrounds, but are supposed to be a nation united where the only colors that matter are red, white and blue. If this woman has a racist bone in her body, she should not serve on this court or any other court.

It does strike me as interesting that Limbaugh has the gall to call somebody racist. Considering the comments he made a few years ago about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, who is black, I think Limbaugh should open his mouth on other matters.