Race matters...

[sheshe2]

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The Supreme Court may have hammered yet another nail into affirmative action’s coffin with its 6-2 ruling on Tuesday, but Justice Sonia Sotomayor didn’t go quietly. In a fiery and incisive 58-page dissent that was longer than the combined rulings and responses of all her other colleagues, Sotomayor took her colleagues to task over their eagerness to part ways with 30-year-old legal precedents; their willful ignorance about the realities of race and racism; and their refusal to acknowledge that race continues to be a central force shaping the lives and opportunities of people in the U.S.

Sotomayor, who was joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, contextualizes Schuette within a century-long history by including a brief history of the myriad ways states and localities have denied people of color the right to vote, to go to school, and to and access to the political process over the years. She starts at the Fifteenth Amendment, which was ratified after the Civil War, and counts all the ways the Supreme Court has intervened in this ugly history to protect people of color’s access the political process. Her history lesson serves as a kind of shaming of the current Court, which in Schuette departed from established precedent and, she argues, its duties.

There are plenty of gems in her dissent, including a direct rebuke to Chief Justice John Roberts, who famously wrote in a 2006 opinion: “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” On Tuesday, Sotomayor responded: “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to speak openly and candidly on the subject of race, and to apply the Constitution with eyes open to the unfortunate effects of centuries of racial discrimination.”

But perhaps my favorite passage from the opinion is when Justice Sotomayor steps away from the legal theory to explain in plain English exactly how race is lived for so many people of color in the U.S.

And race matters for reasons that really are only skin deep, that cannot be discussed any other way, and that cannot be wished away. Race matters to a young man’s view of society when he spends his teenage years watching others tense up as he passes, no matter the neighborhood where he grew up. Race matters to a young woman’s sense of self when she states her hometown, and then is pressed, “No, where are you really from?”, regardless of how many generations her family has been in the country. Race matters to a young person addressed by a stranger in a foreign language, which he does not understand because only English was spoken at home. Race matters because of the slights, the snickers, the silent judgments that reinforce that most crippling of thoughts: “I do not belong here.”

http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/04/justice_sotomayors_beautiful_schuette_dissent_race_matters.html

The power of a woman's voice. A strong wise Latina. She knows this story as Roberts never can. Eyes open Justice Roberts. Eyes wide open!

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. Yes it does! The only difference between Cliven Bundy & John Roberts is a law degree.

[William769]

2. At least to some of us it does.

I found out just today, that doesn't hold true for all (and you'd be surprised who I'm talking about).

[sheshe2]

3. Don't be cryptic William.

Spill it or PM me.

[William769]

4. PM on the way.

[Jamaal510]

7. +1

[Cha]

5. Thank you, she~

[Sarah Ibarruri]

6. This lady is magnificent! nt

[rurallib]

9. I thought she would be good, but she is far exceeding my expectation s

I hope she is around long enough to be the leading liberal voice on a liberal court.

[sheshe2]

18. She is indeed Sarah! eom

[Number23]

8. K&R The only people that seem to always minimize the existence of racism

are the ones that have been affected by it the least.

[sheshe2]

17. And completely deaf dumb and stupid! eom

[Solly Mack]

10. K&R

[Number23]

11. "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to speak openly and candidly on the subject"

Oh, I can hear the howls from a certain contingent here already. Those howls are probably coming from lots of other quarters as well.

[sheshe2]

13. So true. So very true. nt

[bettyellen]

15. Howls, because people in _____ hvae it worse dontchaknow. And WM's issues more interesting and

worthy, LOL.

[AverageJoe90]

12. Sad, but damn true.

Even though the majority of Americans, at least these days, really are colorblind, in the sense of focusing on a person's character and not their skin color or nationality as a measure of worth, that is(and not the literal "I don't see color" silliness), there still remains a fair number of racists and other prejudiced people who haven't gotten the message yet, (including some who *don't know* that they're prejudiced).....including those in positions of high power.

[bettyellen]

14. I am so proud of my homegirl! She grew up down the road- her bio dishes on nuns who taught us both

in parochial school. She also went to my HS in the Bronx. I knew she would be wise and empathetic, knowing her history!

[sheshe2]

16. bettyellen!

I am so jealous, she is your homegirl!

Sonia is my hero!

Brava!

[bettyellen]

19. Yeah and I missed it two years ago when she went back to BSS for an all alumni reunion.

I went last year, but she did not come. The diocese closed our school despite her joining in protesting that.
They should have renamed the damned school after her, LOL. So very proud. Really cool reading a bio and seeing my old school uniforms worn by the author, LOL. Really cool!

[sheshe2]

20. She is amazing~

Brava!