Sotomayor and the Politics of Public Humiliation

(Community Matters) Princeton Associate Professor of Politics & African American Studies, Melissa Harris-Lacewell on Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation in the Nation

The hearing was a performance of a broader set of social rules that govern race and gender interactions in American politics. Women, and most especially black and brown women, have to prove their fitness for public life by demonstrating the ability to endure harsh brutality without openly fighting back. The ability to bear up under public degradation is a test of worth. America’s favorite black woman heroine is Rosa Parks, a woman who is remembered as silently enduring the humiliation of being ejected from a public bus for refusing to comply with segregated seating.

It was painful to witness (though, admittedly I only did so ex post facto). It was almost funny to hear the white conservative men ridicule and taunt Sotomayor for acknowledging that her diversity would bring a helpful perspective to the court. Then, I remember it’s all about power and privilege and no group gives up either willingly.