Sotomayor - Doesn't Subscribe to E Pluribus Unum

Do You Want Somebody on the Supreme Court who Doesn't Get America, Doesn't Sign on to the American Endeavor, Isn't An American, and is Ungrateful -- (see the earlier blog below)


America is about people of many nationalities and religious denominations now not conscious of much difference between each other. You know, the Irish used to consider themselves a distinct race. (And I've got a direct quote of that that I will dig up). E pluribus unum.

Of course, the people who lump the former Jews, Irish, Italians, and Connecticut Yankees together as "white" are racist themselves, "You all look the same to me."

But I'm not talking about just whites. I'm talking about people I know from Nepal who came here and became "instant Americans." I'm talking about friends with immediate ancestors from China and Korea who consider their soul to be American and unquestionably owe primary allegiance to this country even if one of my Korean friends reads Korean newspapers.

Everybody comes here and we add what we have to the mix, and become Americans. I mean, China has this incredible thing called acupuncture that until very recently has been incredibly underappreciated by Western medicine. Western medicine was, and basically still is, missing out on probably 50% of medical knowledge. People come here from China, and they have something major to contribute. People come here from India, and they bring Yoga. America is changed by the contributions of immigrants.

Not so for Sotomayor. Below are excerpts from her speech to the Connecticut Hispanic Bar Association in 1998. For the time being, I'll mostly let people judge for themselves because I don't have time to dissect this:


"... why individuals like us, many of us whom were born in this completely different American culture, still identify so strongly with the island in which our parents were born and raised."

"I became a Puerto Rican Latina by the way I love and the way I live my life. My family showed me by their example how wonderful and vibrant life is and how wonderful and magical it is to have a Puerto Rican soul. They taught me to love America, to value its lesson that great things could be achieved if one works hard for it." She does not identify primarily as an American.

" ... it is critical to accept the fact that we Hispanics are different from the larger society, that
we must work harder to overcome the problems our communities face, and that we must work
together as Hispanics to achieve changes."

"I underscore that in saying this I am not promoting ethnic segregation. I am promoting just the opposite: an ethnic identity and pride which impels us to work with others in the larger society to achieve advancement for the people of our cultures. You here, like me, who chose to be educated in college and professional institutions, who have worked in community and government institutions, have already accepted the principal that we must work together within our society to integrate its established hierarchies and structures if we are to improve our own lives and that of our communities. Nevertheless, although we should not attempt to isolate ourselves from the larger society, we also must steadfastly refuse to lose our unique identities and perspectives in this process." I am not saying she has to give up her background, but I don't see any embrace of the United States.

"America has a deeply confused image of itself that is a perpetual source of tension.
We are a nation that takes pride in our ethnic diversity, recognizing its importance in shaping our
society and in adding richness to its existence. Yet, we simultaneously insist that we can and must function and live in a race- and color- blind way that ignores those very differences that in other contexts we laud. That tension between the melting pot and the salad bowl, ... This tension leads many of us to struggle with maintaining and promoting our cultural and ethnic identities in a society which is often ambivalent about how to deal with its differences." Having an ethnic identity and pride is fine as long as you embrace the United States and primarily identify as an American. Sotomayor doesn't seem to get this.


"Somewhere all of us Hispanics have had a defining moment when we were shocked into learning that we were different and that American society treated us differently. The shock and sense of being an alien will never again, I suspect, be as profound for any of us as that first experience because I know from personal experience that our education and professional training have equipped us to deal better in this sometimes alien land."
So she sees herself as "sometimes" an alien here. This person is not an American, is not fully comfortable in this society. I do not want such a person on the Supreme Court of the United States.


I would like to ask her, does American society treat you differently? How? If it does treat you differently, maybe American society perceives that you do not want to be an American. Or maybe it is you who refuse to embrace American society, so you approach American society differently and therefore end up with a different outcome?

"From these technological advances, our children will have more opportunities to enjoy, but it will be harder for them to hold on to their ethnic identities. But hold on to them we must because Puerto Ricans, Latinos and all minority groups, despite what part of the country we live in, face enormous challenges in this society." (And here she begins to quote statistics showing lower educational attainment, lower income, and higher unemployment for Hispanics.)
She envisions her children holding on to their ethnic identity. Terrific. She clearly does not subscribe to E Pluribus Unum, which has from the beginning been one of the pillars of this nation. W.E.B. Dubois believed in E Pluribus Unum. He believed that over time the freed slaves would intermarry with whites and the new America would have a dash of color. "Inter-racial" marriage is occuring with more frequency. (Will get stats).

Sotomayor should not be entrusted with a position on the Supreme Court, which will place her in of one of the pillars of the nation and the Republic. Because of her personal viewpoint that is opposed to E Pluribus Unum, she will probably undermine the nation, and through that, make the Republic harder to govern.