Last night on The O’Reilly Factor, NPR’s Juan Williams called the reversal of the New Haven Fire Fighter discrimination lawsuit “judicial activism.” If you somehow missed this case, fourteen white fire fighters and one Hispanic fire fighter were denied promotions after passing the required test because no black candidates passed the test. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor sided with the City of New Haven and supported the promotion denials. Williams suggested that if there are no black passing students that the test needs to be looked at. I disagree.
Juan, sometimes black people do worse on tests than non-black people. Deal with it. If you keep going down this road I’m going to start a frivolous lawsuit and sue the NBA for race and height discrimination. After all, 82% of NBA players are black. If I win there, I will then take on the NFL, where 65% of the players are black. See how stupid that sounds?
If standardized tests are racially biased toward white middle-class Americans, why do Asian students regularly perform as good if not better than white students? After all, Asians make up 5% of our population; they are certainly a minority in America. They often come from families that do not even have English as their native language. Why do they do better? Could it be their home life? Their work ethic? The concept of discipline and hard work? Here’s one opinion (from GreatSchools.net):
While American children are dividing their time between a thousand different extracurricular activities in addition to household chores, Asian students are concentrating more on their schoolwork. The role of Asian children in the family is clear-cut and two-fold:
- Respect your elders and obey your parents.
- Study hard and do well in school to secure a bright future.
Our parents firmly believed in roles and they ensured that each member of the family carried out his or her role to the best of his or her ability. Our father was the breadwinner during the day and an educator at night. Our mother kept the house and finances in order during the day and also became an educator at night. Our role during the day was to obey our teachers and do our best in the classroom; our role at night was to obey our parents and focus on our continued studies at home (which included homework, review of previously learned material and any additional assignments our parents gave us). Of course, we also cleaned our rooms, set the table, did the dishes and played outdoors, but we didn’t have the multitude of distractions that many non-Asian children faced once school ended.
So Juan, stop dealing from the race card deck. The only way America will get over the percieved problem of racism is when minorities stop pointing out the fact that they are minorities. I was thinking that this would happen after Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton die, but I’m not too hopeful since folks like P-Diddy and Jamie Fox are happy to carry the black separatist torch for the next generation. When will blacks actually adopt the “content of their character” mantra of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?
Remember liberal hippy: during the “past eight years” year dissension was “patriotic.” Suck it.
Is Sonia Sotomayor gay? If so, this is a good reason to reject her Supreme Court nomination. If she can use her self-proclaimed Latina experiences to make decisions that crackers like me can’t make, you can bet your sweet fur burger that she can also use her Lesbian experiences in the same manner.
Riddle me this: If a Latina can make decisions influenced by her personal view of the world and/or her “empathy” (Obama’s apparent litmus test) where men cannot, why should I trust her judgment? After all, I am a minority: I live in a city that is 58% Hispanic. Where is MY representation? I thought that Obama was the great uniter! Help! Help! I’m being oppressed! Sotomayor is telling us that Mr. Honky isn’t necessarily the right judge for the job in cases involving race.
Sotomayor has already admitted that courts like hers are where policies are made, not enforced. Her words, not mine. Team Obama has hyped up her Latina heritage and the press is chugging the kool-ade yet again. She is a political activist, an example of how the courts are ruining America. Sotomayor sees her upbringing and culture as an advantage that gives her perspective and the ability to make tough decisions.
This makes me wonder: Since we can be sure that Roe v. Wade will certainly be reviewed by an Obama Supreme Court, how can Sotomayor possibly make a rational decision about the right to life if she has never created life before? How can she craft her legal opinions on such an important case if she has no cultural experience with the topic? She has no idea what it is like to live with another life inside of her. She has never experienced the miracle of birth. Will she take the side of teens “burdened” by pregnancy? Will she take the side of illegal aliens that enter our country to deliver an anchor baby? After all, she is a Latina, she understands these things, right? Based on her own perspectives on the roll of judges, she should respectfully withdraw her nomination.
But seriously, a judge is supposed to be an impartial arbitrator. A judge is not supposed to consider how the plaintiff or defendant was “feeling” at the time a crime was committed. A courtroom is no place to showcase your empathy. When you do, you get results like the initial OJ Simpson verdict. A judge should not put him or herself in the shoes of those she is judging. They are supposed to rule based on the letter of the law. If you were involved in a court case, would you enjoy the burden of worrying whether the judge was going to side with you or the other side? Or, would you prefer to sit in confidence knowing that the judge was not biased or full of empathy?
(note: Justice Souter is also gay. Sotomayor’s gayness is not the issue, if you read this correctly. I’m writing about the hypocrisy of her statements – conflict her words and beliefs have with the responsibilities that her potential new job carry.)
Sure, she teaches at Stanford. Sure, she wrote a law text book. But if she can’t pass the California Bar Exam, or at least didn’t take it seriously four years ago, why should we give her one of the most powerful and important positions our country has to offer?
