By Jean Mavrelis - 06.05.2009
Would a Latina be likely to have a more well-rounded, multicultural perspective than a white man who has lived and worked his entire life in only mainstream environments?
Sotomayor said, “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.”
“Better” was an unfortunate word choice, but if she means that individuals who have lived a minority experience, and then come into the mainstream, are more likely to have a multicultural perspective than members of the dominant white male group, then I would agree. People who have experienced what it’s like to be on both sides of the dominant white power structure in the U.S. do indeed have a value-added, more well rounded frame of reference. Some white folks also acquire multicultural perspectives, and that’s value added, too. (Bill Clinton has been called the first Black president by African Americans-but even there he can’t truly experience a Black perspective). Read more »
By Thomas Kochman - 06.02.2009
All eyes turned toward Sonia Sotomayor as she became President Obama’s nominee for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court this week. If confirmed she will replace retiring Justice David Souter, become the first Hispanic Justice, and only the third woman to serve on the nation’s highest court.
Her nomination is historic and has me reflecting on the many conversations Jean and I have had over the years with Hispanic women who have reached high levels in U.S. companies about the level of effort it took to accomplish that given family pressures to just take on the traditional wife/mother role.
The cultural underpinnings of this family conflict are parental and cultural role expectations on one side of the equation vs. individual free choice on the other. We also hear about Hispanic parents who initially resisted the career choices of their daughters returning to embrace them later. Driving that reunion is the Hispanic cultural pattern and collective value: “one for all and all for one” which allows both individuals and the extended family/community to reach out in support of each other. Read more »
By Thomas Kochman - 06.02.2009
One of the hurdles that Sonia Sotomayor has to contend with as a Latina, is the view that makes individual qualifications suspect to the extent that ethnicity and gender were factors in her selection. Characterizing her nomination as an “affirmative action pick” as Pat Buchanan did on MSNBC does just that.
The problem with this view is that it has become near impossible in the larger society for anyone other than a white man to be seen first and foremost as an individual and not first and foremost as a member of a race, gender, or ethnic group. So even if a white woman or person of color were best qualified for a position the fact that they are primarily seen as members of a group inevitably calls their individual qualifications into question. Read more »
