07/08/2005

Did you hear? Justice Sandra Day O'Connor retired! Yes, you heard that many times already because it is that important. But, in many ways, we are post O'Connor already. The battle for the nomination of the next Supreme Court Justice already started, and the lobbying is in full bloom.

President Bush should use the opportunity presented by a vacancy to unite the country in support of important rights. Any nominee should be committed to preserving and expanding the progress that has been made on protecting the fundamental rights and liberties of all Americans. That is why it is important that the next Supreme Court justice be independent, open-minded, and able to dispense justice in a fair and impartial manner.

But in this battle, we Hispanics may be called to play a role, as was called the African American community to play a role in the nomination of Clarence Thomas, and, as Cornell West puts it, most in the African American community couldn't differentiate the moral issues at stake when faced with identity politics, because they were entangled in the racial reasoning.

It baffles to hear that the Bush administration, whose policies have lead to a noticeable increase in the ranks of poverty, the uninsured and the social disadvantaged in general, and we all know that those ranks are full of the so called people of color, it's considered the most diverse administration ever. That should teach us a lesson regarding identity politics.

It isn't an issue of getting one of every color in certain high places. Race or ethnicity do not exist in a vacuum, there is a content to those categories. When ones claims to be black that's not just skin deep, one says that because one is appropriating a history of conflict and of opposition to that conflict.

It can not go both ways: you can not claim 'I'm black and deserving because I have been exploited, personally and as a group; and also claim that races has no impact on anything and therefore, affirmative action should be a thing of the past.

In today's paper we are discussing the role of the Supreme Court and the close decisions in which Justice O'Connor tipped the balance. That's an illustration of the power and the significance of one justice. This is way too important to let it be played out on the realm of identity politics.

We, Hispanics, have a pretense of pride and we also still feel we need to prove ourselves to our white brothers and sisters. So, when one of ours is promoted or hits the spotlight we look at him or her as Jesus Incarnate.

There are several Hispanic names in the short list of candidates that everyone feels are in the President's mind. But let's not go by the last name this time around. Alberto Gonzales – who because he came too close to respecting the law and deferring to precedence in abortion related matters – has been so harshly attacked by the Conservatives that liberals have little less to do on that front.