"I always thought of myself as an American...but suddenly last night I felt ~

[sheshe2]

Whoopi Goldberg said the day after Barack Obama was elected president: "I always thought of myself as an American...but suddenly last night I felt like I could put my suitcase down finally."

Having a wise Latina on the Supreme Court matters



We all saw what happened when President Obama said, "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon." No other American president could have uttered those words. I was reminded of that when I saw this part of Justice Sonia Sotomayor's dissenting opinion on the recent Supreme Court decision about Michigan's affirmative action program.

Race matters to a young man’s view of society when he spends his teenage years watching others tense up as he passes, no matter the neighborhood where he grows up. Race matters to a young woman’s sense of self when she states her hometown, and then is pressed, “No, where are you really from,” regardless of how many generations her family has been in the country. Race matters to a young person addressed by a stranger in a foreign language, which he does not understand because only English was spoken at home. Race matters because of the slights, the snickers, the silent judgments that reinforce that most crippling of thoughts: “I do not belong here.”

Sotomayor knows what it means to question whether or not you belong. In many ways I suspect that is the formative human question - one that haunts those that are denied a seat at the table as a result of white male patriarchy. I am reminded of what Whoopi Goldberg said the day after Barack Obama was elected president: "I always thought of myself as an American...but suddenly last night I felt like I could put my suitcase down finally."

Its not only important that people like President Obama and Justice Sotomayor show us all - by their presence - that women and people of color belong. Their lived experiences and empathy with others who have felt the sting of not belonging are equally important.

snip

Read More: http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2014/04/having-wise-latina-on-supreme-court.html

[William769]

1. Whoopi Goldberg is one of my idols.

[sheshe2]

4. Mine too William~ eom

[loudsue]

10. So true...me too. Whoopi is one amazing human.

She never fails to make me feel stronger somehow. I am in awe of her.

[spanone]

2. k&r...

[AverageJoe90]

3. She's a genuinely good person. We need more like her on the court.....nt

[Cha]

5. Kick for smartypants.. mahalo, she~

[sheshe2]

6. Cha!

Thank you, smartypants nailed it.

Hey, I have missed you~

[Cha]

9. ..

[Sarah Ibarruri]

7. I'm SO proud of Sotomayor and Obama. nt

[sheshe2]

8. Thanks Sarah!

I am too.

Both remarkable souls. They are trying to help heal our nation.

[UtahLib]

11. This world would be

a much better place if more people would just open their hearts and listen and learn from those whose life experiences differ from our own.

[sheshe2]

12. You just did it, UtahLib.

In a sentence you summed it up.

This world would be a much better place if more people would just open their hearts and listen and learn from those whose life experiences differ from our own.

Listen and learn. Open your hearts and listen and learn from those that are different from you.

Thank you, well said!

[mountain grammy]

13. I remember Whoopi saying she loved watching the old Star Treks as a kid

because it was one of the only shows with a black person and it made her feel good because it showed there would be black people in the future.

[sheshe2]

14. I posted about Star Trek's Uhura a while back~

I had a better link and pictures before, yet it is late and this works...

I was thinking of leaving the show after the first season because I felt Uhura didn’t have enough to do. I was invited to a NAACP dinner where I met a big fan, Dr Martin Luther King. He told me he never missed an episode.

When I said I was contemplating not renewing my contract, he was horrified. He told me, ‘You have to renew. Your character has changed the face of television forever. You have created a character with dignity, intelligence and beauty and for the first time people see us as equals’.

snip

In the 70s and 80s NASA approached me to become involved with recruiting women in ethnic minorities for their space shuttle programme. I was sending women into space. The women I interviewed would tell me Lt Uhura was the reason why they wanted to become astronauts!

They included the first American woman in space, Sally Ride. I also interviewed Mae Jemison who became the first black female astronaut in 1992. She later called at my home to personally thank me.

But my biggest fan has to be President Obama. I was invited to have lunch with him at the White House last year. I was so nervous but apparently he was nervous about meeting me. I think meeting Lt Uhura fulfilled a teen fantasy for him!




http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/tv-radio/445669/Whatever-happened-to-Star-Trek-s-Lieutenant-Uhura

Thanks mountain grammy

[mountain grammy]

15. No, sheshe, thank you! I never realized how far the impact of this one woman

on a tv show could reach so many. She is absolutely as beautiful as she ever was.

[Bluenorthwest]

16. Her name is Nichelle Nichols

Just for the record.

[demigoddess]

17. I may be white but

I LOVE having a president who is african-american, and Sotomayor on the SCOTUS makes me very happy. All I can say is MORE! More!

[lostnfound]

18. Ditto. Makes America feel more like.. America.

The effect it must have on little black kids growing up to see him as President is great; the effect it has on white kids who grow up seeing him as President is possibly even greater.