TheLoop21.com

By: Devona Walker (Add to your loop)
Thu, 08/06/2009 - 13:08

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed today.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed today. Viva los America.

This post has taken a little perspective to write. Honestly, her confirmation hearings were so enraging, I thought this foregone conclusion would be overshadowed by the hypocritical and dishonest grilling she took.  

Let's reflect: Sotomayor was called racist by some of the most racially insensitive public figures in American life, i.e. Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Newt Gingrich, Pat Buchanana and Sen. John Inhof. She was called an affirmative action pick and unqualified by some of the most unqualified and intellectually challenged "talking heads" in public life, i.e. Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Newt Gingrich, Pat Buchanan and Sen. John Inhof.

As a minority, it was just too much of the "flip the script" American political spin to take.

But then I was reminded that today is the 45th anniversary of the National Voting Rights Act. It was just 45 years ago, about the same amount of time President Barack Obama has been on this earth, that this country prohibited discrimination against minorities in voting.

It's been just 45 years that African-Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and Native Americans have had access to this country's electoral process. 

In absence of revolution, this is how change is made. It is made gradually and painstakingly. And we, the beneficiaries of this change, need perspective to appreciate how far we've come as opposed to being angry about the obstacles we face.

We still have a long way to go. We still have a lot of fighting left to do. But if Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor proves anything, it is that we, as women and minorities, still have a lot of fight left in us.

Let us reflect on Sotomayor's own personal journey. First, there was her poor upbringing, in an urban housing project no less. There was her father, a man with a third-grade education who died while she was just a child. There was the late nights she spent studying by lamplight next to her mother who was studying just to learn the American language. There was her advocacy, prior to becoming a judge, on behalf of her own people. 

Then there was the ridiculous Senate judiciary hearings and the constant mocking of her by the conservative media.

This is simply what we are all up against when we try to carve out little pieces of the glass ceiling. 

"My mom believed that education was the key to everything in the world," Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said.

"I don't know that I had a real sense of limitation until I got into the greater world and realized that people saw me with limited eyes."

Nothing better summarizes the minority experience in America.

Devona Walker is TheLoop21.com's senior political/finance reporter. She has worked for the New York Times Regional Newspaper group and The Associated Press.