We have a wise Latina on the Supreme Court.
At the moment of Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation as the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court, Carmen Garcia cried, hard.
She was one of several women at the FB Lounge in New York City's Spanish Harlem who saw in Sotomayor's life story a version of her own, or her parents'.
"All the obstacles she must have seen in the South Bronx, I saw in Spanish Harlem," said Garcia, 58, a hospital food-service worker whose parents brought her to New York in 1957. "Any child that looks outside the window to the fire escape and wants to become a judge, a lawyer, a district attorney, a Supreme Court (justice), and sees what Sotomayor used to see, can say, 'I can do it, too.' "
For many of the nation's Hispanics, Sotomayor's confirmation marked a proud milestone — an affirmation of their struggles and hard work, an inspiration for them and their children.
Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights organization, swallowed back tears as she waited to thank senators after the vote. "It's overwhelming," she said.
From Chicago to Oxnard, Calif., from Sotomayor's hometown of New York to Puerto Rico, her parents' home, her ascent from a housing project to the high court has galvanized Hispanics' hopes. Said Murguia: "Her story is our story." [...]
Sergio Zeligman, owner of Las Gangas clothing store in downtown Mayaguez, says Sotomayor's achievement makes Latinos feel they are part of the fabric of the United States. "We have representation that we've never had before."
Pat Buchanan pines for the America of the '50s, but the country has changed, and for the better.
And while we Latinos celebrate Associate Justice Sotomayor's accomplishments, we have also take note of who tried to stand in her way.
Nine Republicans voted to confirm: Lamar Alexander (TN), Kit Bond (MO), Susan Collins (ME), Lindsey Graham (SC), Judd Gregg (NH), Richard Lugar (IN), Mel Martinez (FL), Olympia Snowe (ME) and George Voinovich (OH).
Four of those -- Bond, Gregg, Martinez, and Voinovich -- are retiring. They don't care what the Rabid Right says anymore. The Maine twins are already apostates. That leaves Alexander, Graham, and Lugar as the only other Republicans unwilling to alienate the nation's fastest growing ethnic demographic by casting a symbolic and doomed vote against the Supreme Court nominee with the most judicial experience in our nation's history.
Props to them, but it didn't work. Latinos know the score.
And for those Latinos still on the fence (about 11 percent), they'll know soon enough: the immigration reform battle hasn't even been engaged.