On the very day that President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, the feeding frenzy began. To no one’s surprise Rush Limbaugh was the first shark in the water. "Here you have a racist…and the libs of course say, the minorities cannot be racists, because they don’t have the power to implement their racism. Well, those days are gone, because reverse racists certainly do have the power to implement their power.“ Obama is the greatest living example of a reverse racist, and now he’s appointed one -— you getting this, AP? -— Sonia Sotomayor, to the U.S. Supreme Court.” 
And then, Atlanta Journal Constitution Political columnist, Jim Galloway, reported, less than 24 hours after Rush Limbaugh threw down the gauntlet, "former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich just twittered the following to his closest 344,357 friends about five minutes ago, never mentioning U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor by name: 'White man racist nominee would be forced to withdraw. Latina woman racist should also withdraw.'
Rush (to judgment) Limbaugh thinks that since we now have an African American president the issue of racism has been settled. What Limbaugh, Gingrich and their cronies apparently fail to comprehend is that racism takes on life not only through individuals but also in our institutions and economic systems. Racism is not rooted in the bigotry of individuals it is more like a cultural virus that requires two combustible elements: prejudice and power. The prejudice + power formula is insidious and ubiquitous because it presents throughout our cultural systems—sometimes in ways that are not immediately apparent.
The ‘minorities’ that Rush refers to may be bigoted, hate-filled or hostile—but by definition they can’t be racist. Racism is not about the power of individuals—but about the way that systems undermine individuals.
While the election of President Obama is a huge indicator that racism has had its day—this does not mean that we as a people have gotten racism out of our systems. In fact, the very presence of an African American President has given rise to a higher rate of hate crimes and provided a rallying call for a number of right wing hate groups. And now, a highly esteemed judge becomes another target of right wing commentators who seek to enflame the negative passions of those who understand least, that we are all interdependent and interrelated.
Appalling and galling are the repeated one dimensional and vulgar rants of these commentators. Rather than seeking to deepen and enrich the national conversation they cheapen it with my-way-or-the-highway rhetoric that is both simplistic and toxic.
Real life—life as we live it—is inevitably complex , ambiguous and multi-dimensional. This truth seems to have escaped Rush and Newt, giving them their latest opportunity for name calling. They base their charge that Ms. Sotomayer is a “Latina woman racist” on her 2001 speech given at the University of Calfornia, Berkeley.
Time Magazine reports "Sotomayor aired the view that a judge's gender and ethnic background inevitably affect his or her decision-making, and probably should. She said then, "Justice O'Connor has often been cited as saying that a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases. I am also not so sure that I agree with the statement ... 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."
It's true her statement implies a stereotypical understanding of white men—but she would no doubt agree that her conclusions don’t apply to every white man—but the “power culture of white men”. Her own experience has no doubt taught her that real life is complex. If there is a necessary quality for a Supreme Court justice it is the capacity to sort through complexity and ambiguity.
She is undeniably correct about the richness of her experience. Raised by a single mother who worked two jobs to support Ms. Sotomayor and her brother who lived in public housing projects—she knows about the complexities of real life. Having overcome the odds she attended college at Princeton and then Yale Law School only to be nominated to the federal courts and now the Supreme Court. Who can deny her experience has not been richer and deeper than that of most white men.
Ms. Sotomayer has risen above the racist systems to an honored place of prominence in our culture. Her ascendancy is a sign that our deeply held American values of equality, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness can and do overcome the most toxic forces in our culture.
Reality is complicated. Hey, Rush and Newt—stop calling names.
Come back to reality. Come back to earth.
Comments
Mr. Thompson, you wrote:
"The ‘minorities’ that Rush refers to may be bigoted, hate-filled or hostile—but by definition they can’t be racist. Racism is not about the power of individuals—but about the way that systems undermine individuals."
That may be the definition, as provided by the Reverend "Hate Whitey" Wright, but you won't find that leftist, assinine (oops, that's redundant) definition in The American Herritage Dictionary. Le'me guess; Obama will push for a Government bailout of all dictionaries and will take control of the publications and start making changes to definitions.
Here's what the 'American Heritage Dictionary' says; "Racism -- the notion that one's own ethnic stock is superior"
I'd add "The political position that one's own white ethnic stock is inferior to blacks in order to gain favor with black racists in the greater Chicago area and with black Chicago area publication editors, in general."
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