While listening to the radio station at work desperately waiting for Judge Sotomayor’s 1st day to begin I knew this was going to be a proud day for Nuyoricans and Puerto Ricans alike. As I was listening versus viewing media I found myself in a state where attention to words and thought required pictorial imagination. The sounds of the room in darkness made me nostalgic of when mami listened to radio before sending us to school. Revisiting the past I searched for the Sotomayor’s of my world.
As a Nuyorican from Brooklyn, I knew many Sonia’s in my neighborhoods at certain crossroads throughout my youth. Some were born in the city and others recent arrivals knowing no English yet learning the language within a year becoming the top student in the class the following year. She was that outstanding Nuyorican child who had the whole family cheering every step of the way, or the teenager next door who had photos of Johnson versus Kennedy on her wall with the following statements below two pictures that read:
You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, `You are free to compete with all the others,' and still justly believe that you have been completely fair.
Men and women of all races are born with the same range of abilities. But ability is not just the product of birth. Ability is stretched or stunted by the family that you live with, and the neighborhood you live in, by the school you go to, and the poverty or the richness of your surroundings. It is the product of a hundred unseen forces playing upon the little infant, the child, and finally the man.
The Sonia’s of my world knew what they were going "to be" from the very beginning like Jesús Colón, "Father of the Nuyorican Movement", Arturo Schomberg "Black Historian", Piri Thomas "Nobel Prize winner", Eddie Palmieri "Julliard Pianist Prodigy", Pedro Petri "Poet", Jose Feliciano "Composer & Singer", Freddie Prinze "Comedian", Raul Julia, Jose Ferrer, Hector Elizondo, Benicio Del Toro "Actors", Chita Rivera "Dancer", and Rita Moreno "Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Grammy Award Winner". I can go on and on naming but the list of distinguished Puerto Ricans is way too long.
Still drifting in thought off and on as Senators on both sides had their chance to give their say it was Senator Lahey who made my heart leap slightly every time I heard good words, and strong words in defense of an extremely qualified woman who was deemed unworthy to sit where "only the privilege shall sit". I know behind closed doors they are reaping in anger and screaming "How dare this Porto Rican from the Bronx sit at the highest judicial bench in the United States with the power to overturn our decisions" and all I could think of was nothing but joy for no matter what they say or think the United States has made a pivot in a direction towards a new and greater place; It does every so often but this time it made a pivot for us, The Puerto Ricans, and my face was filled with joy as I continued to hear Lahey’s speech.
Right before Senator Schumer spoke I thought more about the successful Puerto Ricans who are unknown to the world yet role models who exemplify perfection, class and intellect to us. For far too long Puerto Ricans have been labeled "that Hispanic group who never gets their feet out of the sand", or "the ones at the bottom of the totem pole". The myth of our feet in the sand, bottom of the pole, or people who never make anything of themselves continues to be promoted by the media. It does so by refusing to acknowledge the success of all those who made it using occasional and sporadic negative comments towards our group or an MTV special portraying a bunch of ignorant mofos with no goals or sense of dignity implying that is who we are > http://www.latina.com/...
Suddenly it was Senator Schumer’s turn. With my earphones on I listened to every word he said. The more he spoke the more I realized how important this nomination was to me and for my son. I began to tear again when he said, "I am certain that this hearing will prove to all what is already clear to many, this is a moment in which all Americans can take great pride, not just New Yorker’s, not just Puerto Ricans, not just Hispanics, not just women, but all Americans who believe in opportunity and who want for themselves and their children, a fair reading of the laws by a judge who understands that while we are a nation of individuals we are all governed by one law".
All you know about us is a bowed down face while handcuffed on the 6 o’clock news. After decades of such media treatment you’d be shocked to know Puerto Ricans are constantly recruited by NASA as scientists from University of Puerto Rico’s Mayaguez science campus > http://en.wikipedia.org/... You’d be shocked to know The Borinqueneers was the 65th Puerto Rican infantry sent to Korea to defend the United States. This infantry fought bravely and saved several American troops before reaching La Piedra in Korea. The plan for the 65th at The Rock was a force suicide mission which was not an option for these men who revolted against being denied a chance to win. Because of their refusal to climb the rock mountain they became the largest group court martialed in US history. Their story belongs in the big screen, but for now it is in our hearts and in a documentary here > http://www.borinqueneers.com/
Unlike other ethnic groups the successful Puerto Rican assimilates and fades into society’s middle and upper class. They are doctors, lawyers, teachers, professors, scientists and inventors of many different shades and ethnic heritage.
Today the Puerto Rican ethnic strands were finally woven into the surface of the fabric of a colorful nation in constant birth and design. When the fabric is finally completed it will truly represent freedom and equality for all its citizens, shine brighter and become the beacon of a true democracy and new civilization.
Before I end this I just want to add the republicans tried to use her words against her and instead it backfired. It’s not spic or lazy or welfare queen anymore. Thanks to them we are now known as Wise Latinas.