Race-Colored Glasses: Seeing What's There

Even if it's a fairly done deal that Judge Sotomayor will be confirmed to the Supreme Court, Republicans are explicitly using her nomination as a "teachable moment" about the role of race in America. Yet Sotomayor, President Obama and the Democrats are trying their best to avoid talking about race rather than responding head on -- which only cedes this critical debate conservatives who justify racial bias under the guise of colorblindness. Instead of sidestepping the conversation on race and trying to change the topic, Democrats and progressives should use this as our own teachable moment for ourselves and the nation. Instead of criticizing Judge Sotomayor for seeing race in America, we should be asking: Why don't the rest of us?

The area of the South Bronx where Sonia Sotomayor grew up, in the poorest urban county in the United States, is predominantly African American and Latino. In the Bronx, African American and Latino children are more likely to be arrested and tried as adults than White kids who commit the same acts, even though kids of color are ultimately found innocent at higher rates than White kids. The average household income is $29,000; a few miles away in mostly-White Manhattan, it's $56,000. Only 16% of Bronx adults have gone to college; in Manhattan it's 57%. Less than 20% of Bronx families own their home, one of the lowest homeownership rates in the country. In the 1990s, New York City unilaterally relocated sewage treatment facilities and waste transfer stations to the Hunts Point section of the Bronx. Rates of diabetes, heart disease and obesity are far greater in the South Bronx than in comparable, White communities.

Nationwide, 16% of White children go to sleep hungry. Among African American children, the rate is almost 42%. Studies show that African Americans and Latinos are less likely to be hired for a job than Whites and when they are hired, they're paid less than White people doing the same work. The average White family has $88,651 in net worth. The average Latino family is worth only $7,932. African American families are worth only $5,998.

Statistics like these are evidence of the pernicious persistence of racial inequality in every aspect of our society. Racism in America is neither isolated nor aberrant, nor is it an invention to excuse what might be attributable to individuals or cultural behaviors. We White people often use Barack Obama's success as evidence that if other people of color simply tried, they too could succeed -- arguing that racism is a myth. We should draw the opposite, more accurate conclusion instead: the fact that so many people of color are as talented and ambitious as President Obama but do not achieve his level of success is proof that other, systemic barriers must be in their way.

The first corporation established in the new, free market America was the slave trading Virginia Corporation. Thomas Jefferson, who wrote that "all men are created equal" and established the structures of our government, owned dozens of slaves. Private and parochial schools, and now vouchers, became popular as public schools became integrated. As the Black middle class grew and African American families bought homes in middle class urban neighborhoods, White families fled and created the suburbs. Private health insurance and private hospitals grew as funding was cut for public health systems that served mostly low-income people of color. Yet we pretend that each of these institutions has nothing to do with race and that the economic inequality or lack of democratic participation that plagues communities of color is mere coincidence, or even the fault of communities themselves, rather than the inevitable product of highly racialized design. Despite a national history that has been profoundly colored by color, which has compounded gulfs of privilege and inequality over generations, we have repeatedly bought the lie that race does not matter in America.

The very fact that Judge Sotomayor's personal story of triumph, from the housing projects of the South Bronx to Princeton and Yale, to federal judge, seems so remarkable reveals our deep, hidden expectations of what is possible and probable for people of color in America.

There's a reason we call judges judges. We expect them to also use their judgment. Judge Sotomayor's judgment is indeed different because she is Latina, just as she is a different judge because she grew up poor, was a district attorney, was a trial judge, lives in a city. In a legal system designed to protect the powerless from the tyranny of the powerful, wouldn't it be nice to have a judge who understands how the abuse of power can hurt communities? And wouldn't it be nice to acknowledge the reality of race that is all around us rather than attacking those for seeing what is clearly there? A deep and personal experience of racial bias is far more valuable to our society -- and our Supreme Court -- than denial. And while confirming Judge Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is critical, arguably using this moment to teach about the continuing role of race in our society is equally as important.

Follow Sally Kohn on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sallykohn

Comments

[CreekCM]

First, I agree with your point that the issue should have be faced head on, but I don't know if Justice Sotomayor's confirmation hearing is the platform in which to do it. Arguments can be made on either side. My personal opinion is that is it not the correct platform and would only serve to further fuel the race issue in this case.

Second, and not that I doubt your stats, but it would be nice to include sources for all your numbers. "42%" of black children go to sleep hungry" how do you measure something like this? Was is a poll, was it based on SPSS?

[rationalconservative]

Thank you Creek. Someone needs to call out bloggers when they randomly tout unsubstantiated statistics as fact. It may be true, but I would like to peruse the sources myself. As you stated, I think a reader has that right.

[missviv]

Well then, by all means peruse away - do your own research!

[DannyDanson]

These figures are not unsubstatiated, they just have not been substatiated by you, so get to it if it troubles your psyche that these number are so high, and once you find out the truth I would imagine that you would make some effort to address these short-coming personally right? (that's what I thought)

People have dedicated there academic careers to studying these anamolies and the research data from decades are available for anyone would want's to find out, get your google on, and get rid of your unsubstatiated cynicism

over 75% of African American children grow up in single parents homes, African American males are incarcerated at a rate that is more than twice their relative population density for economically motivated non-violent, victimless offenses, in New York city African Americans have lost jobs during this downturn at a rate that is 4 times the amount of their white counterparts, and the list goes on and one and on and involves nearly every measure of human well-being in this country.

It stands to reason that the figures in this column are realistic and may even be on the conservative side, but it would take someone who actually cared about this topic, and have studied this topic to known that , I never expected anyone witht he moniker "rational conservative" to know this.

[PKatherine]

51% of americans (all) wake up hungry!!!!

[CreekCM]

LOL, that made me laugh. I wake up dying of thirst for coffee, but never hungry, for whatever reason, heh.

[CreekCM]

Wow, I don't think you guys need to get so snippy. I just think it's just common practice to list where one gets information, you know? Sure, we could do our own research, but that's really beside the point -- I guess I am always used to having to provide citations and bibliographies in anything I write, be it briefs or essays or research papers. So, I just found it odd that the sources are not provided.

And Mr. Danson, I am not doubting the reality of the numbers -- but at the same time, I am not an academic in this area and I think very few people are. In that sense, providing sources will encourage us to learn more.

[Eeesh]

Sally , the most frustrating thing about the whole issue is that not one of the Sonia defenders, not one who is calling the questions of her racist statements racist,,, would have have defended a Republican , or heaven forbid a white male Republican for making the same references

[nogurunomethodnoteacher]

Nonsense.

Sotomayor has said and has done nothing racist.

Republican questioners over the past four three days have said many racist things.

I'm sorry you can't see that.

[OlongapoEd]

Oh, there can be no legitimate doubt that he/she/it sees it quite well, but thinks that he/she/it can get away with contrary to fact statements.

[jcwtts1]

You can fight these battles at another time. Allow the Hispanic community to celebrate a win, a first, an historic moment, and then if you want to fight let's fight. I agree with everything you wrote except that now is the time. The GOP isn't winning any battle, they are preaching to their rapidly shrinking choir. Take yes for an answer, win this fight with the GOP looking like the racists many of them are, let the visuals of all old white men v a diverse group of men and women young and old (and also white by the way) on the left tell the tale. Every minority following the hearings has said something similar to this to me, "I loved be lectured on racism by old white southern supporters of the KKK." The Hispanic community, at least those I have talked to say they will remember this and that they will vote accordingly.

[nogurunomethodnoteacher]

Much of it has to do with many white people being unaware that they reference white experiences whenever they talk about societal norms.

The Republican senators on the Sotomayor panel have done this again and again this week.
That would be understandable if they didn't imply and sometimes clearly say that other experiences are "other" and shouldn't be brought to bear.

No white judge can leave their life experience out of their job anymore than can a non-white person, but the white person tends to think the white life experience is the norm.

The real test is whether or not they can utilize that life experience and still uphold the letter of the law. Not whether or not they say inspiring things at latina women's functions.

[hippieforlife]

Whatever in the world makes people think that being white is a "privilege"? I've been white all my life and I have had to work hard to earn a living and raise my family. Not once have I been given anything for the sole reason that I am white, trust me.

What we need is to NOT see race. It should not make any difference. People are people and are not given anything more or less because of skin color alone. It sounds like people are willing to make excuses because of "race".

I believe that we need to move away from "racial identity" because it serves no good purpose. A person's character should overshadow any skin color.

[MoeB]

People don't mean priviliged in the sense that you mean. We don't think that all white people are handed their lives on a silver platter. It simply means, in this case, since the inception of the nation, that whites (particularly white males) have always had the law on their side they've always had rights. Blacks, women, and other minorities have had to FIGHT to what rights we have today. They were not assumed. There are benefits that come with having full rights in this country...economic and societal and cultural. If you've been denied those rights, it has a toll that lasts for generations.

And simply putting your hands over your eyes so you don't see race will not make racism, bigotry or prejudices go away. It'd be nice if it could, but the reality is that it won't.

And your "racial identity" is only part of who you are as a person.

[taitafalcon]

I am trusting you; your 'white priveledge' is so expected that it's hard to recognize when it's right in front of you.. , I do believe you when you say you've worked hard for everything... but you do it without ball and chain at birth...Try to imagine doing it with one hand tied behind your back. The DOJ stats support the conclusions that we live in a unequal society. I am 4 times more likely to not find a job than you are; I am 13 time more likely to be arrested; I am 8 times more likely to die an early to violent death. I am 5 times more likely to be stopped in traffic. Forget the country clubs I can't be a member of unless I'm looking to make minimum wage pouring classes of ice water. I can speak with numbers or live experience. I was born in the city and raised in the country where we were the only black people around for about 50 miles in any direction. After 20 years in the military and 10 years of engineering, I've seen the best and worst of white people. I don't hold a grudge, but I do beg to differ. I was NY state's o black competitor in the scholastic rifle team competitions 1971-1975; I come from a race where a black farmer could be lynched for knowing when he was being cheated at the market. No, trust me... it's different...

[valkyrie607]

So you're a hippie for life, eh? Ever chuffed raw, toked up, whatever? If so, you're just as likely as a black man to have done so--blacks and whites use drugs at about the same rate. However, if you were black, your chances of being arrested would be doubled. And if arrested, your chances of being convicted would also be higher. If convicted, your chances of receiving a prison sentence are higher again. Such that, by the time the system is done, even though blacks make up 12% of the population and use drugs at the same rate as whites, blacks make up 77% of drug-related incarcerations. 1 in 4 black men is involved in the criminal justice system in some way, which, combined with the law barring ex-felons from voting in many states, amounts to a sophisticated version of Jim Crow.

And you say we should just stop "seeing" race? Sorry, pretending like the last 500 years never happened isn't going to help.

[DannyDanson]

If you live in a society where such a priviledge exists in a cultural vacuum, and you have grow accustomed to it, you will not be able to observe it in terms of what "extra" things that priviledge brings you, rather you would have to seek to understand the diseparate realities of other groups and view this "relative priviledge" in terms of the variance between group A and group B.

For instance take criminal law, and sentencing rates for the same crime committed by different groups.
If group A is sentenced to (x) years for this crime and group B is sentenced to (x)5 years then the 5 times variance or rather the lack of that 5 years variance is the priviledge of Group A

No one would choose to be a minority, why?

[ItHadToBeSaid]

" . . . wouldn't it be nice to have a judge who understands how the abuse of power can hurt communities? And wouldn't it be nice to acknowledge the reality of race that is all around us rather than attacking those for seeing what is clearly there? A deep and personal experience of racial bias is far more valuable to our society -- and our Supreme Court -- than denial."

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

This article was so well-written, so spot on. The more I read, the more I cheered. Your observations and the statistical information provided to support them is astounding. Too often we disregard information like that provided in your article, and look upon r-cism as something NOT to be talked about. I have never seen a problem solved by just ignoring it. This article was so timely and so needed.

Why is it that "so many people of color are as talented and ambitious as President Obama but do not achieve his level of success? . . . [it] is proof that other, systemic barriers must be in their way."

Exactly right. And its time we talked about them so the barriers can come down.

[arachne646]

This was a fantastic article. I must admit I am Canadian, from Vancouver, and we have different intercultural issues and racism here. I am always stunned by the number of white Americans who say they are not racist and they see no racism in the U.S. With segregated schools getting worse, and criminal justice disparities between african-american, latino, and other white individuals being so vast, it's incredible to the rest of the world that so many claim America as a "post-racial" nation.

[chicago12]

Most of the comments here are from people who have no experience with American courts or the horrible American Arbitration system. The proportion of whites in the courts and among arbitrators is enormous. In fact almost all arbitrators are white. Some of the decisions of these judges and arbitrators have nothing to do with the law but with considerations like whether they like how the parties look, how they dress, what private club they belong to, their ethnicity, how well they speak English, and whether they are wealthy companies or institutions. In short, they ignore the law, they ignore the facts, they ignore expert witnesses, and then they rule based on their prejudices. You got it: usually the losing party is the party with lesser amount of money and lesser social status. The media did an expose on Arbitrators which always rule in favor of hospitals, insurance companies, manufacturers, and against patients, people who file claims, and clients.
Why are they now coming after a Latino woman of humble origins and forcing her to recant her assertion that her life experience might enlighten her on her judicial rulings? Has anybody questioned the thousands of insensitive and incompetent judges and arbitrators, almost all of them white, who daily make a mockery of the American judicial system?

[brooklyncitizen]

This argument on race as put forth by the GOP reminds me of one of those fun-house double mirrors that reflect back the image to infinity ...they challenge Judge Sotomayor from a place of white male privilege. They do so in a self-righteous manner that claims the white privelege they have enjoyed their entire lives yet claim that racism is deplorable.

My Mom use to say:
"Del dicho al hecho hay un trecho".
Between saying and doing there is a large chasm.-in short the GOP's words don't match up with their actions.

[Javani]

They are all self-righteous. Sotomayor in her own way too. I suspect you know that had she said this as a judge in a Latin American country she would be looked upon as insane. Her statement is in accord with white "liberal" American culture which privileges such statements from "minorities", as long as her other views conform with their own.

It is a minor matter, but something for right wing whites to grab on in order to pretend their lack of racism by comparison. Really, her statements about "trends in humanity" guiding her legal decisions is scarier, essentially stating she will rule the way she wishes with an imaginary authority to back her.

[brooklyncitizen]

There's nothing insane about her...your fears are irrational and disingenuous.
BTW there are NINE SC justices...she's not going to be deciding on her own.

[nogurunomethodnoteacher]

Why? Why is it scary? What do you fear?

For all the demonization Sotomayor has gotten this summer I've yet to hear a concrete answer to this that makes any sense.

The main answer is how-dare-s­he-say-she­'d-make-be­tter-choic­es-than-a-­white-man.

In the context of the speech her comment was perfectly reasonable.

Also, people are acting as if Sotomayor just came out of the Bronx the day before yesterday and said OH NOW I'M GONNA GET WHITEY. So silly. This is a woman with decades of noble experience, whereas Jeff Sessions has decades of being a narrow bigot with limited brain power.

[DannyDanson]

You can't equate Sotomayors recognition of her cultural heritage, and gender with the GOP pretending they neither have nor recognizes their own.

Basically they are saying we have one norm here, ours that make your recognition of you own activism, eventhough I can't find a case in your 17yr career to prove that.

racism. intimidation. misdirection. period.
The country is smarter than that, you'll see in 2010 & 2012

[PKatherine]

are you saying only whites can be liberal.....

wow.

[lovetheworld]

"Instead of criticizing Judge Sotomayor for seeing race in America, we should be asking: Why don't the rest of us?"

I agree Sally.

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor saw race. In a interview in “The Ladies Home Journal” from 1981 (soon after she was appointed to the Supreme Court), Justice O‘Connor said: “I bring to the court the perspective of a woman primarily in the sense that I am female, just as I am white, a college graduate, et cetera. Yes, I will bring the understanding of a woman to court. But I doubt that that alone will affect my decisions.”

She said she was not only a woman but also "white".

[Davwbaird]

You certainly have that right. Most northern whites don't admit to being racist even in my childhood home they clearly were, and of the worst sort, they did not know. The excess baggage that bought to my adult life has been a curse of the highest proportions. Has it been for yours?

Within a religious context the in congruency of southern fundys is absurd. They are the ones we need fear the most. It seems that out of that has grown the anti abortion movement which is so very divisive and so deadly. Them don't see the rule of law applying to them and we for that reason must fear them.
It seems that the terrorist within our borders are much more destructive of our well being that those from other lands.
To see a network such as Fox fanning the hate is not a good thing.

In the health care debate, those standing in the way of that right are those same southern racist for the most part. They reveal themselves for what they are, banal fearful human beings living off the misery of others. I have given my views which are clearly worthless to most. I have raised my voice in the anti war movement was told to be silent it would hurt the movement. So be it. We are a people who don't get it and don't like to rock the boat on injustice.

[SagOne]

This is a fine post. After the civil war, the south promised it would rise again. It snuck
in the back door of the Republican party to mount it's rise, holding it's jack boot on the neck of all Americans. The south is keeping the people from evolving and moving beyond the ridiculousness of the Peculiar Institution. The south is facist and authoritarian. The people who live there and escape from there carry this way of nonbeing and it is hell to pay to exorcise oneself of the mean spiritedness that comes with southernness or backwardness. Even Bill Clinton couldn't gain release from the
retardiness of the southern mentality. These people fear having done to them what they have done to others, but not enough to stop doing what they do. As soon as we can release ourselves from the noose of the south: A two-state solution, The United Taliban of ignorant people and the United nation of Freed people's, the entire Human race can at last EVOLVE, that is grow the hell on up.

[HalfBakedSushi]

Good job generalizing all people in the South as racist, stupid, non-important, mean, backwards, and the center of all race-based problems in this country. How wonderful that you see the true nature of the South. /snark

I have not "done" anything to others. Many of my friends have not "done" anything to others. Many of us work hard to point out racism and prejudice where we see it. (And YOU, sir/madam, are prejudiced against the South.) Many of us do not see skin color, age, sexuality, handicaps, etc.; nor do we use that to determine or influence our actions. We connect with people regardless of those factors and sometimes because of those factors.

I suggest you come on down here sometime and actually get to know these people you vilify. I suggest you extend the same compassion and understanding toward Southerners as you would extend toward, say, Iranian citizens. I suggest you meet the people you view as the "Taliban of ignorant people" and see what we are truly like rather than assuming all Southerners are carbon copies of the unfortunate representatives we have in the government.

If you are unable to do that, then I invite you to release yourself from the "noose" of the South and never think or speak of us again.

[HalfBakedSushi]

Good job generalizing all people in the South as racist, stupid, non-important, mean, backwards, and the center of all race-based problems in this country. How wonderful that you see the true nature of the South. /snark

I have not "done" anything to others. Many of my friends have not "done" anything to others. Many of us work hard to point out racism and prejudice where we see it. (And YOU, sir/madam, are prejudiced against the South.) Many of us do not see skin color, age, sexuality, handicaps, etc.; nor do we use that to determine or influence our actions. We connect with people regardless of those factors and sometimes because of those factors.

I suggest you come on down here sometime and actually get to know these people you vilify. I suggest you extend the same compassion and understanding toward Southerners as you would extend toward, say, Iranian citizens. I suggest you meet the people you view as the "Taliban of ignorant people" and see what we are truly like rather than assuming all Southerners are carbon copies of the unfortunate representatives we have in the government.

If you are unable to do that, then I invite you to release yourself from the "noose" of the South and never think or speak of us again.

[rjmiller]

Everyone in America is racist.

We've all grown up watching TV and movies that almost universally portray minorities as criminals and gangsters. When they aren't, they are typically shown as oppressed by evil, greedy old white men (remember the episode of Diff'rent Strokes where Willis can't get a job because he's black?).

To think that these images had no impact on us in our formative years is impossible. Of course we're all racist and we all have knee-jerk racist reactions in certain situations, but an intelligent person is going to ignore all of that and make a rational decision.

[Jaxy]

No, I cannot agree with that assessment. However, not everyone is racist.

I believe that everyone in America is race-conscious, in that we have an awareness that race, for better ow worse, permeates our daily lives - from what kind of job you may not be offered, to how you may be treated when you are in public, to what part of town you may be excluded from living in.

These are issues for people who are deemed to not have the "right" racial make-up.

On the other hand, those who assume that their race is better than/superior to any others, are a vile breed entirely unto themselves.

[akababs]

Correction everyone is american is not racist - people of color can be prejudice, but not racist since they are not the dominant force in the power structure that keeps them underprivileged and marginalized. Moreover, an intelligent person would not "ignore" the influences upon their life, but would instead be more mindful of them (i.e. how these negative images of people of color affect their perceptions of people of color and themselves. We see color, we just don't want to admit it. A colorblind society only benefits whites, who clearly see color. Only they are the great unspoken color.

[LateDave]

Just to be contrarian, I'll agree all Americans are racists. I am, for example.

Look at any TV commercial including a couple. Male/female, of course (hey, this is *money,* screw truth), but also identifiable in "racial" makeup. And of what "races" are they? Black with black only (an inaccurate term). Asian unmixed, especially if older. Anglo normally unmixed, but sometimes with . . . a mixed-"race" mate. Latino? Well, Latino isn't one "race," but a varying mixture of Native American (Aztec, Carib, etc.), EuroSpaniard, and African, salted with anglo (northern European).

Why are ads segregated? Because sales people only see sales, and insist anglos don't buy stuff modeled by blacks. Is this prejudice real? It was. It is diminishing. As Juan Williams reminds us, the NAACP was created to combat lynching, and now a person "of color" is President. Does this mean there is no more racism? Hardly!

The reason for a "racist South" shorthand is that overt bigotry still increases as you traverse the old Confederacy: Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi. Not because Boston is colorblind, or L.A. has no "race" riots, or every single southerner is a Strom Thurmond.

IIRC, segregationists have bemoaned a goal of integration to create a caramel society with no more "whites." IMHO, they may foresee a real result, but are wrong on intent. Personally, I don't dread that hypothetical time, only regret that it may indeed take tens of generations to rid the world of prejudice.

[noweknow]

Lack of trust and fear of betrayal. Eventually this will break our country apart.

[katermc]

This was a great piece.

[hyperpolitik]

This is an AMAZING post.
I believe it is absurd to expect judges to act without the influence of their lives behind their decisions.

Wasn't it Sotomayor who said "we're not robots"?

I understand the old belief that judges need to be impartial, and it is certainly true that they should not favor one group over another, nor should one group of people, be they designated by race, gender, disability, class or any other qualification, be thought of as inherently better (read closer to the "Truth" of the law) judges than other groups.

But one's personal experience is the unavoidable consequence of living life as a human being. We cannot detach ourselves from our history to judge anything, be it the deliciousness of an ice cream flavor or the merits of a supreme court case, with the impartiality of one who would be outside of time, capable of reviewing "objectively" the meaning of the words in which the laws are written.

The fact is that the laws, their "spirit," and their meanings for us are cultural artifacts. We always exist in history and so must our opinions.

[LateDave]

Exquisitely put.

*Every* judge brings baggage. To believe otherwise is delusional. For a judge to *break the law* or *deceive the jury* to force an outcome is criminal. And not, alas, rare.

[GreenTeacher]

I agree. Color awareness is necessary to allow us to see injustice. The myth of color blindness (and it is a myth - ask summer campers in Philadelphia) is nothing but ignoring injustice.

It is true that things are not simply divided just on the basis of race, or gender, or class, or any one factor, but until our vision and our conversation is honest, we can not possibly get to the real issues and correct the divisions that ARE there.

[maus]

Here, here Sally! But you must admit, it is finally Sotomayor herself that is shirking from this incredible opportunity, choosing instead to propagate the myth of "impartiality" and "rule of law." In fact, it seems to me, that it isn't only racial inequality that could be called into question by these hearings, but also, and perhaps even more importantly, the empty presuppositions the entire American State founds itself upon. Here again, Sotomayor shirks, backing down from her earlier suggestions of a radical creative perspectivism in the name of "universality" which, as we Marxists know, is really code for "naturalized rationality."

[zlohcuc]

she needs to get confirmed to be effective so anything she does now must be mindful of the real impact she may have post confirmation. once completed, her influence can be unprecedented in helping the country move toward eqalibrium.

[nogurunomethodnoteacher]

You can't rail against the people who are responsible for confirming you. You need to get confirmed first.

This has been true throughout all history. If you can't rise to the position where your wisdom can be utilized, your wisdom can't be utilized. It's just noble ranting otherwise.