TheLoop21.com

By: Devona Walker (Add to your loop)
Tue, 05/26/2009 - 17:20

Rush Limbaugh is not happy about President Obama's Supreme Court pick.

Now that is funny. Big-mouth Rush Limbaugh is playing the race card. He is calling President Obama's Supreme Court pick — Sonia Sotomayor, a Latina — a racist. I'm not sure how he actually pulled that one off with a straight face. 

It is one hell of a hilarious choice of words for a man who owes his entire career to racism. He has done nothing but race-bait Barack Obama since the day the Illinois sentaor became a serious candidate for the presidency. He even race-baited former Secretary of State Colin Powell for endorsing Obama.

As recently as last week, he tried to convince his angry mob of listeners that Obama was trying to re-allocate wealth by giving away the hard-earned money of one group (white folks) of people to others (black folks) who have not worked for or earned it. According to Limbaugh, the only point of Obama's economic policy is to increase the welfare rolls (once again he's talking about black folks) and to legislate reparations (there again, code language for black folks).  

Limbaugh brings home about $425 million per year, according to this own estimates, as a shock jock DJ. He owes every penny of his livelihood to racism in America. If tomorrow there was no racism, if tomorrow racists mysteriously disappeared from the U.S., I guarantee Limbaugh would be out of a job.

Taking cues from Limbaugh on racism in America is like asking Bernie Madoff for investment advice.  

Limbaugh's criticism is based primarily on one statement Sotomayor made before Obama nominated her to the Supreme Court. Out of her entire career as a corporate lawyer, prosecuting attorney and appellate court judge, he came up with one sound bite upon which to base his  libelous claims.

Here it is: "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." 

Well if Sotomayor's a racist, then you might as well dub me Adolph because I entirely agree with that statement. In fact, I believe it is the lack of diversity in our judicial system that makes it both unjust and inequitable.

At present, with one woman and one black guy, the rest of the Supreme Court is made up of old white guys. Her ethnicity, gender and life experiences will give her a unique perspective on the highest court in the land. And it's a perspective the court sorely needs. 

Admittedly, her statement might not have been the best political move. But guess what? She's not a politician. She's a judge. It is her job to hear cases of justice, not worry about offending the apparently fragile, white male ego of the most conservative wing of the Republican Party.

I am not saying race or gender renders white men incompetent in terms of administering justice. My point is that half this country is made up of women. Only half of this country is white. But just about every position of leadership in the U.S. (with exceptions, including Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Nancy Pelosi) is held by the white man's minority perspective. And they are the ones crying foul, calling people racists? 

We should be grown up enough to admit that race and gender play a role in the way that all human beings make an informed decision. We must also acknowledge that both are bitterly apparent in our judicial system and the manner in which the old white guys, whom we have entrusted with the keys to the kingdom, have historically administered justice. Women and minorities should not have to feel sheepish about admitting that, hey, this whole "we all pay taxes, but you get to make all the decisions that affect our lives" thing is getting a little old.

But the most hyper-hypocritical thing about all of this is the inherent assumption they are making here — that being white and male somehow yields ethnic and gender neutrality. They assume their perspective is objective, and it's the rest of us who are incapable of clarity.

In reality, the U.S. demographic least capable of objectivity is white men. No offense to white men like Limbaugh. But they are the least likely to ever step outside of, let alone live outside of, their own element. White men are least likely to be aware of the existence of an alternative perspective like the one Sotomayor possesses. It is only due to this supreme sense of entitlement that white men routinely mistake their own subjective reality with objectivity.

Devona Walker is TheLoop21.com's senior reporter/blogger. 

Is President Obama's pick, Sonia Sotomayor, a good Supreme Court choice?

Yes, I'm glad she's a minority

No, she's too liberal

I'm not sure