Dear Friend and Reader:
Before we begin, let’s take a few moments to watch this exchange between Rachel Maddow and Pat Buchanan. It comes on right after President Obama’s speech at the NAACP, which is a perfect prelude.
Watching the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor as Associate Justice on the Supreme Court, these lastВ fourВ days have been an exercise in keeping the lidВ on aВ giddiness andВ rage so perfectly blended that the feelings could almost be bottled up and sold as an emulsion. As a woman of color, IВ watched another one rise up to the highest court of the land because she worked hard and deserved it. This was and is the original intent of Affirmative Action, and an original ideal of the founding of this republic — however imperfectly executed.В
Affirmative Action is at the heart of theВ confirmationВ proceedings that took place this last week in the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the exchange of fire between Maddow and Buchanan. I cannot help but think of myself and the millions of other young men, women, boys and girls who walked through the gates of affirmative action in a land that, as Mr. BuchananВ says, “white men built”, and succeeded.
Now Mr. Buchanan is right, in a way.В We do live in a world thatВ through rich white men’s largesse we have been allowed to breathe. ThatВ they canВ let you in and can kick you out inВ a wink and a slap on your cute brown ass.В That has been the way of things since this country began. But Buchanan believes the surface of what we’ve been told about our countryВ and accepts the cartoon of our history,В notВ our history’sВ reality. The real people who built this country are invisible to people like Buchanan. By and large we’ve existed, survived and flourished under, around and in spite of this. And by the “we”, I mean men and women, poor, and from all over the planet. From kidnapped Africans in the 17th century,В impoverished, oppressed Europeans near the end of the 19th century, Asians, Central and Latin Americans in the 20th.
It is because of Affirmative Action that a lotus like Sonia Sotomayor could have been found on the streets of the Bronx and rise to the highest court in the land. And that is probably why people like Pat Buchanan are terrified enough to call a program providing equal opportunity to people not like him –В watching them prosper to positions above him asВ “evil”.
TheВ white, old and mostly Southern RepublicansВ questioning the integrity and validity of experience of a distinguished judge with 17 years on the federal benchВ — more experience than Chief Justice JohnВ Roberts, was insulting but not surprising. They questioned whether or not she came up the judicial ladder on her merits or through affirmative action.В Whether she was capable of making decisions for the highest court without bias for her race or gender.В QuestionedВ whether she was able toВ suppress herВ empathy with plaintiffs (of color) toВ adjudicate fairly, adhering to the law without prejudice, saying in effect, when placed in a position of public responsibility, she could not be trusted toВ be “disloyal” to her own race and culture while doing her job.
But she responded in kind, as befitting a person who earned the respect she got by deflecting the blows they tried to hurl withВ a coolness that indicated her years on the bench. She did it on her own in the white man’s world,В obeying theВ rules, even legally interpreting the rules. Ironically, her testimonyВ provided a matronly appeal calming the fears of some of these poor little rich white menВ sitting behind their microphones on the dais.В В And they couldn’t rattle her for a second.
The confirmation hearings provided a useful lesson on the ritual of preserving white male privilege — what it has been the last two hundred years. But in those senators’ questions and in Mr. Buchanan’s reactions on Maddow’s show, the underlying fear is that of losing control of what they’ve known. With an African-American President in the White House and the first Latina justice on the Supreme Court, the world is moving forward without them.
The fading lights in the eyes of the old, rich white men don’t just come from theВ eclipses that sandwich these proceedings. TheyВ are the dimming ofВ the glimmering lights of a world they thought they still owned, but now and in the future, have to share.
Yours and truly,
Fe Bongolan
San Francisco
Patty, I know what you mean regarding China. We grew up just knowing that nothing like that could ever happen in America, but anymore. . . . .One astrologer thinks the astrology shows that the conflict between China and U.S. will peak in about 18 months. That shouldn’t surprise us. Still, it’s hard to believe that anyone would want my little condo, but what goes ’round, comes ’round, and nothing should be taken for granted. Peace to you and yours my friend.
BK – I was actually proud of both of them for getting to attend college. My husband scored close to a 1600 on the SAT, and daughter wasn’t too far behind. They earned the scholarships in other ways too, through community service and public speaking.
Anytime someone complains about all the Mexicans living here, my husband defends them and says ‘they were here before you were’ to shut them up.
His family actually lost everything again after the civil war, because they were southern and landowners. Yankees took it all. You don’t have to have very much for someone to stake a claim to it.
Never know when it might happen to us. I keep waiting for China to call in their loans to the US. Do you think they could come in and claim ownership of all our property? LOL. We lost some of the auto companies that way, I guess.
well I was talking about the concentration camp model, not affirmative action. But we could go on forever about the cause of discrimination, not the least of which was separation. Remember, Hitler wanted a blonde society – not just a white society. He killed as many Polish people as jews.
Patty:
Nothing personal taken, though there needs to be clarity here because there are many models you are talking about. One is ethnic cleansing, which is the Native American reservation system and the concentration camp system of Nazi Germany.
The other model is Affirmative Action, which was an attempt to bring up groups that were traditionally disadvantaged. There is a big difference.
Fe – don’t take this so personally. Hitler designed the concentration camps after the American Indian Reservation. That is why I said that we need to end the model, because the model works very well to CAUSE discrimination.
Hitler also scapegoated Jews, homosexuals and socialists to promulgate white Christian resentment during a severe post-war depression in Germany.
Its very easy to try and assign blame on Affirmative Action. Its the scapegoat du jour. No one ever thinks about rich white industrialists or war profiteering corporations when it comes to separating by race and class. Its much easier to blame the guy next to you.
Hi Patty and all,
Something you said (this eclipse is showing us an end of an era) made me think of Phil Sedgewick’s 7/18 newsletter. He was talking about how he feels that the “20Y2K12 Mayan Calendar thing was a shift in consciousness and not the end of the world.” This shift in consciousness he goes on to say “will be established by trends preceding the event.” I’m sure he and Eric and Fe and you and the rest of us would agree that this eclipse will be part of the “trends preceding the event”. How you feel, how Savas Abadsidis feels. . .the unfairness, the crazyness (sp?) and all the sometimes absurd changes we are witnessing now produce the driving force of “trends preceding” and viewed from on high probably could be described as total chaos. Out of which is born . . .
Phil goes on to say that “consensus reality shifts and consciousness spreads. It takes active engaged participants”. All of us, not the least, you Patty, have been in this mode for as long as I’ve known you through your writings. The chaos our country and our world is experiencing, these birth-pangs with screams of anguish ARE the BEGINNING of an end of an era. We hang on to the handles of sanity through the wisdom astrology provides us about our present era and the coming era. What a wonderful time to be alive!
How wonderful for you that 2 out of 3 in your household were sent to college free. Not too many of us have been that lucky. Not that your husband (and your daughter!) don’t deserve a free education. It’s the least this country could do for native americans who had everything stripped away from them by an invading government and its citizens. Hang in there and continue to help your neighbors and those of us out here who read of your tribulations and achievements. You are appreciated!
Patty:
My niece and nephew are bi-racial children with a white father. Because my brother-in-law and my sister make too much money, my niece and nephew, even with Filipino middle names, could not and did not take advantage of AA scholarships.
They have grown up in a world where Affirmative Action has done its job to an extent where their mother, who did take advantage of the program (as well as I) in the 1970s, was in a position of advantage enough so that her children did not have to access AA for their own needs for school.
As for Hitler – he separated the races, and denigrated and killed several million for the industrial and societal advancement of whites. I think that’s a different concept than attempting to even up the accessibility to education and employment for groups struggling for equity of access so they can be self-sufficent as their lives proceed.
Patty writes :: “Hitler knew what he was doing when he separated people by groups. We need to get away from that model asap.”
Hear-hear.
I think this eclipse is showing us the end of an era – Daughters of the American Revolution have finalized the fight – now let’s get on with living.
My husband and daughter went to college free because they are native american. Even though I live in the same household, with the same income, I had to pay my own way. How was that fair? A lot of our friends were really pissed off when they found out about it (thanks to my big mouthed spouse).
I won’t be joining a white supremacist group any time soon, but a lot of young white men have, and I can tell you that this is the sort of thing that has spawned a lot of hatred. Hitler knew what he was doing when he separated people by groups. We need to get away from that model asap.
bk:
I also think it is a good thing that we can still find government and politics something to talk about, and I hope we never find it passe or irrelevant. That would be a dangerous thing.
I agree that the “grip” is getting loosened, but not without a struggle, and certainly there are still quite a few “takers” out there on the old concept. It hasn’t died. The Pat Buchanans of the world are still invested in it, along with some conservatives actively pursuing their second amendment rights.
There are others who will never abide with a black man as President of the US, let alone a Latina as Supreme Court Justice.
Moving forward? Yes, we are. The stubborn remnants clinging to the past are not going to go down quietly.
Fe, I enjoyed reading your post and was relieved in fact that we can still find news a topic for discussing. I so admire the courage and diplomacy of these two role models; President Obama and Sonya Sotomayor. They have passed through the once impossible hurdles, road-blocks, threats, insults and down right cruelties imposed on all who would dare to seek admittance to the exclusive bastions, government or otherwise, of the white (christian) male America. They did it with aplomb, and without animosity. Reminds me of pledging a sorority when I was young enough to think I wanted to belong to one.
The fear that held so many back from even trying to crash the old boy clubs has decreased and the audacious terror tactics from years past performed by the “superior white american” has lost much of its grip. We seem to be growing up, we citizens of the world. I feel fortunate I am a witness to it all.
Patty:
“Slap on your brown ass” was used metaphorically and was not just about women. Nor was it an actual reference to sins of the present-day, or of the past.
And things are different. I work in public construction. Fifteen years ago, women engineers were suing the city because of employment discrimination. I still work in public construction for a department run by women, employed more that 60 percent female in division management and project management.
As Obama said in his speech before the NAACP, there were role models who helped get us in there and bring us up–many of whom got in there because of Affirmative Action. It was civil rights that empowered and energized women, gay and lesbian rights, and cultural equity.
Sotormayor is a role model, as is Obama. They are people, leaders and symbols. As such, their responsibility is doubled from the moment they took the job to do their job and stand as that symbol that this can be accomplished.
It was the slap on the brown ass that got me. I know too many women who have made money off of the least offense. Sure it’s humiliating, but when was the last time any man slapped a woman on the ass at work and got by with it? I watched a James Bond movie not too long ago, Goldfinger, and he slapped a woman on the ass. Those were the bad old days in case anyone is feeling nostalgic. But those days are in the past and everyone knows it. Affirmative action needs to be abolished. As far as I can see, the only group still suffering some discrimination are the gays and lesbians, but not by much if you don’t include marriage in the equation.
I don’t agree that women have to keep proving themselves. That might have been true in the 70s, 80s and 90s, but women have been kicking the men’s butts for quite awhile now, and the older women aren’t much fun to have as bosses since their perspective is so screwed. They are mean and vicious most of the time. I’m still seeing it first hand.
On the other hand, where I work I hire engineers, scientists, CPAs and lawyers regularly, who are by and large a mix of younger men and women of all races who understand competition in a fresh light. I am glad I am getting to know them!
Eric:
Yes I do. Anita Hill was magnificent.
These were not the Clarence Thomas hearings.
Anybody remember those?
bnaidus:
Agreed, though there is a ways to go as we proceed forward. Old paradigms die hard.
Patty:
The Perry Mason question was probably more Franken’s way to lighten proceedings that by my understanding was far more insulting in its insistence that Sonia Sotomayor make sure she was going to protect the rights of white men. That’s what the underlying concern of the senators were. and what made Pat Bucnanan’s diatribe against affirmative action, which was to me a pity-the-poor white male rant, a dishonest and misleading distraction from the Sotomayor nomination, and a way to divide poor white people from other poor people from across the cultural lines.
The fact is Sonia Sotomayor, as well as I and many more of us who got a leg into doors closed to us traditionally because of our race and our gender — proved herself worthy of the position she has earned. She has played by the rules, including the white man’s rules and excelled in her field.
Frankly, I find it disturbing that people who imagine that people of color or women or anone who got “in” somehow skirted the rules because of affirmative action. You understand that even with the leg in, you still have to work twice as hard and continue to prove you are “worthy”. And that will happen long after you’ve proved your salt. It will never be a foregone conclusion or an expectation of you.
In fact, if you have people who look at you and question why and how you can speak English so well and not understand why you do so, you can begin to understand the pressure chamber under which those who are not traditionally recognized in this country exist in America. The job of Affirmative Action is not over. Not by a long shot.
Brilliant, Fe. We need to celebrate the fading lights in their eyes, and recognize the accumulation of small steps (created by so many invisible ones) that kicked open this door (with enormous grace). And remain ever vigilant.
If I hear one more lecture about affirmative action I will scream bloody hell. Questioning? Oh please, you mean like the barney frank question about which case Perry Mason lost, to which she started answering before the question was even finished? When did preparation for a congressional hearing include studying Perry Mason shows – for Supreme Court Justice no less. I think we are all being totally duped by this administration, and the congress doesn’t know how to back away for fear of looking racist.
What a sad state we are in.
While I completely get the triumph involved from Sotomayor’s side (and I did love this: … provided a matronly appeal calming the fears of some of these poor little rich white men…), I didn’t see anything other than a sort of uncomfortable admiration on the part of her opposition. By that I mean they seemed to *want* to express that admiration openly, but were constrained by the idiocy of our system.
It’s a new day, my finehearts.
M