The Racial Reacharound!

First, the republicans newly appointed top dog of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions coughed up a proverbial hairball of utter nonsense during Sotomayor’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing. He said;

“You voted not to reconsider the prior case. You voted to stay with the decision of the circuit. And in fact your vote was the key vote. Had you voted with Judge Cabranes, himself of Puerto Rican ancestry, had you voted with him, you could’ve changed that case” (Referring to the Firefighter Law Suit).

This is wrong in so many ways, but I’ll just point out the hypocritical one for now. Much of the line of questioning and reservations from republicans during the confirmation hearing has been that Sotomayor would cast her votes on the lines of racial bias and would be an activist judge. If that is your concern, why in the hell would you make a comment that if she had just voted like the other Latino judge the ruling of the firefighter lawsuit would have been decided in the same manor as the supreme court. Also the Supreme Court had to amend the statute to come to there conclusion and clarify the difference between their ruling and past precedence, hum, sounds a lot like judicial activism. This is a common tactic of the privileged and powerful; always blame the opposing side of committing the grievance while you’re the real offender.

Next, we had (R) Senator Todd Tiahrt speaking before the House of Representatives regarding taxpayer funded abortions in DC. He reasoned;

“If you think of it in human terms, there is a financial incentive that will be put in place, paid for by tax dollars that will encourage women who are single parents, living below the poverty level, to have the opportunity for a free abortion. If you take that scenario and apply it to many of the great minds we have today, who would we have been deprived of? Our president grew up in a similar circumstance. If that financial incentive was in place, is it possible that his mother may have taken advantage of it? And what about Justice Clarence Thomas”

Ok Todd, African Americans aren’t the only impoverished people in this country and I have yet to meet a woman who is looking for either the opportunity or incentive to have an abortion.

Finally, we had the old crotchety coot Pat Buchanan who has apparently been recently diagnosed with the Poor Rich White Man Syndrome, which will hereto be referred to as PRWMS. Although PRWMS is not a deadly disorder it can have adverse effects upon one’s aptitude for rational thinking, compassion and has been known to cause mood swings and sometimes whipping its sufferers back to a 1950’s Deep South mindset. I’m not sure which quote to use of Grandpa Pat, there’s quite a few this week. In an interview with Rachael Maddow on her MSNBC show, the two were discussing equality in past Supreme Court nominees. Maddow asked Buchanan why he thought that 108 of the 110 Supreme Court Justices had been white. He replied;

"White men were 100% of the people that wrote the Constitution, 100% of the people that signed the Declaration of Independence, 100% of the people who died at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, probably close to 100% of the people who died at Normandy. This has been a country built basically by white folks, who were 90% of the nation in 1960 when I was growing up and the other 10% were African-Americans who had been discriminated against. That's why".

Although Pat’s whole line of thinking here is utterly preposterous and needs no further delving, how about a little fact check? First, African Americans and Latinos were not allowed in the decision making that formed this country, hence the lack of ability to give the old John Hancock. Secondly, African Americans and Latinos fought in Vicksburg and Normandy while Latinos were the only one’s to fight at Gettysburg, there just not as recognized for doing so.

Gettysburg:

Though recruiting of African Americans for Union service began in early 1863 and "US Colored Troops" saw combat action in various places that same year, there were no regiments of African-American soldiers attached to the "Army of the Potomac" in 1863.

Mexicans in the United States lived in poverty, and offering small incentives for fighting could easily lure large crowds of Mexicanos and Tejanos into fighting. Most fought on behalf of the Confederacy, who were well known for supporting political and social issues that Mexican Americans did not (unfortunately this still happens).

Vicksburg:

There were two Plaques dedicated to United States Colored Troops regiments that fought in the 1863 Vicksburg Campaign and related Civil War battles in the Vicksburg National Military Park between 1903 and 1942, the year they were removed from Park. The plaque is now placed at Grant’s Canal, an obscure location across the Mississippi River in Louisiana. Contemporary Park historians have denied that black troops participated in the Vicksburg Siege. The Monument, however, tells a different story.

Latinos fought the same as they did in Gettysburg.

Normandy:

The All-black 320th Antiaircraft Artillery Balloon Barrage Battalion.

7000 Latinos made up half of the 2nd Infantry division.


In Summation I hope this week has torn a small hole in the veil of entitlement and superiority these men feel surrounds them. I also hope people will remember their statements when it comes time to vote.