Splaining

Ay, pobre Sen. Tom Coburn. He stuck his pata in his boca. The world and Web have piled on him. I won’t. Not too badly, anyway.

Let me ‘splain to ju.

Coburn’s Ricky Ricardo channeling, in what video shows was a light-hearted moment during mostly annoying (in my opinion) Senate hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor, was wrong. But, I give him a break because he doesn’t, or didn’t know, it was wrong.

Not wrong like morally offensive or racist (though some see it as such), but wrong in that it shows nice and brightly how little we know each other. Sen. Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma, attempted to connect with the chica from the South Bronx housing complex in perhaps the only way he knew how.

It’s like people who just met me, find out I’m a Cuban from Miami and first thing they ask is if I used to watch Miami Vice.

Here’s another. A few weeks ago, I went to a lovely little restaurant in Nashville with a group of about 10 Latinas. I was the only American-born Latina. The others were from places like Bolivia, Mexico, Peru, Costa Rica. Among us were an attorney, a pediatrician, a dentist, doctor, a couple stay-at-home moms and several execs. Spanish and English and Spanglish was being spoken.

The very nice waiter, who spoke a little Spanish, asked if we were a group of teachers. No. Then, he made a fist, as in solidarity, and asked: “La Raza?”

Huh?

We shook our heads no. The waiter and his patrons smiled at each other a little uncomfortably. The woman sitting next to me and I looked at each other and quietly cracked up as he quickly walked away. Huh?

I’ve watched or listened to most of the hearing and what has irked me most has been the repeated questioning of Sotomayor’s ability to be impartial and the presumption she can’t be because she’s an ethnic minority — albeit an Ivy League educated one.

OK, she made the “wise Latina” comment. It was unwise of her, for sure. She said she was trying to inspire Latinos. She said it was a flourish that fell flat. But, she should have known better. She stuck her pata in her boca. And, indeed, as Sen. Graham told her, anyone else — i.e. a white male — would have had their Supreme Court aspirations canned. He is right.

The day Sotomayor was nominated, a friend with whom I share absolutely no political views, asked me what I thought about the nomination. He was obviously irked. I told him I didn’t know much about her, but I applauded the nomination of a Latina who appeared qualified. Government must reflect its people, and finding a qualified person of Hispanic descent for the Supreme Court looks like a great thing to me. So what if she was purposely picked because she is Latina? She is qualified. And, besides, plenty of other people get hired because daddy knows the head of the company.

It sucks to be the little diversity checkmark in the workplace. I know. I have been that little checkmark. You bust your butt and field uncomfortable questions to prove you are worthy of your position. You smile and you temper yourself because you don’t want to be the stereotypical hot-headed Hispanic. (My former colleagues can attest that I didn’t hold back too much though.) …Another diversity take is here by Ruben Navarette Jr.

I know my background brought value to my job. I learned from co-workers with backgrounds far different from mine and they learned from me. (Wouldn’t it be nice for the same thing to go on in the Supreme Court break room?)

Sotomayor often said this week that she takes her cultural baggage into account before she makes decisions. She said she has to look at her own stuff to make sure it isn’t coloring her judgments. It did not appear some senators were satisfied.

Justice is blind. Judges are not. And, if you don’t believe that, you haven’t sat in many courtrooms. White, black, Latino. We’ve all got stuff. Even impartial judges. (Read item No. 3 in Time magazine’s “Four Enduring Myths About Supreme Court Nominees.”)

But, whatever. Here’s what I know for sure. Sonia Sotomayor is an American who happens to be of Latino descent. She knows her cultura, but I am putting down money she also knows mom and apple pie. She knows baseball, the American dream. And she even probably knows a thing or two about Mayberry and “the real America.” How much does “the real America” know about her, and Americans like her? How much does it assume about her based on her ethnicity?

So, he stuck his foot in his mouth. She stuck her foot in her mouth.
The beauty is we can all learn from it and move on.

Perhaps if we spent more time knowing each other, getting each other, giving each other a few passes for boberias we wouldn’t have to ‘splain ourselves so much.