Yeah, I know, Supreme Court swearings-in aren't exactly a public event. It's a Saturday. The whole "townhall fights" thing dominated the news all week. It's a Saturday. The birthers' fake Kenyan document too. The unemployment numbers falling Friday effectively pushed Sotomayor's 68-31 nomination to page A3. And yeah, it's a Saturday. It seems like this is the last we remember about Sotomayor.
Still, I can't help but imagine what this day is like for many Hispanics. Could you imagine what this day would be like had Obama selected a black woman? It's prolly like that, times 20. Sadly, even though Hispanics (not to be confused with Puerto Ricans) are now the largest minority in the nation, they're a long way from being an entity that's fully engaged in the mainstream media. Seriously, how many Latino pundits have you seen discussing the significance of today's ceremony? Exactly. Me neither.
My sons and I will tune in and watch this piece of invisible history being made when she's confirmed at 11am. I hope you will too.
[Update: The coverage of this historic event was just disgraceful. CNN (very briefly) had a reporter at a restaurant in (where else?) Spanish Harlem, where folks were watching and celebrating, but that was it. None of the other cable news stations bothered to show anything other than the very short swearing in, then switched immediately into analysis of whether or not she was cut out for the job, and what her first couple of cases would be. It's like the historical significance was completely ignored on purpose almost. Maybe Telemundo or Univision covered this better, but there's no reason why the MSM dropped the ball. Disgraceful.]
Question: What does the swearing-in of Sotomayor mean for Hispanics in America? Are Hispanics such a non-monolithic entity that it's virtually impossible to judge the impact of the GOP's backlash right now? Do you take any pride in seeing Sotomayor confirmed?
