Aug
06
“It is beyond anybody’s imagination when I started that a Puerto Rican could ascend to that position, to the Supreme Court,” said Edwin Torres, who in 1959 was hired as the first Puerto Rican assistant district attorney in New York
In the summer of 1959, Edwin Torres landed a $60-a-week job and wound up on the front page of El Diario. He had just been hired as the first Puerto Rican assistant district attorney in New York — and probably, he thinks, the entire United States.
He still recalls the headline: “Exemplary Son of El Barrio Becomes Prosecutor.”
“You would’ve thought I had been named attorney general,” he said. “That’s how big it was.” Read more..
(1 votes, average: 3 out of 5)
Loading ...
Email This Post
Jul
06
Former Secretary of State and retired US General Colin Powell defended Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor from allegations of reverse-racism Powell stuck up for Sonia from the block on Sunday, labeling as bogus the “reverse racist” charges aimed at Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.
Powell, who’s from the same South Bronx neighborhood as Sotomayor, said the first Hispanic woman nominated to the high bench should be confirmed in Senate hearings beginning later this month.
Critics have attacked Sotomayor as a “reverse racist” for her ruling as an appeals court judge against white firefighters in a civil service promotion case.
They say “she ought to withdraw her nomination because we’re mad at her,” said Powell on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Sotomayor has “an open and liberal bent of mind,” Powell said. “But that’s not disqualifying.”
It’s unlikely Republicans can muster the votes to block her appointment. Read more..
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Email This Post
May
28
While juggling world crisis in Korea, Iran and the Middle-East as well as preparing for visits to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and France, Barack Obama has managed to squash, nullify and neuter any opposition from Republicans to his choice for the Supreme Court.
A Hispanic, “up from her bootstraps” women judge, Sonia Sotomayor is a deft and politically brilliant choice for his first nomination to the Supreme Court.
In making this choice Obama has reinforced once again his own personal story.
He has picked a candidate who exemplifies his belief that everyone, even from the most modest background, should have the opportunity to succeed.
The choice of Judge Sotomayor is as much a symbol for the Hispanic community as Barack Obama’s election was for the African American community.
It signifies that in America, the doors of power will open for those who work hard and move beyond externally imposed cultural stereotypes to higher ground.
Obama has stressed that he wanted a nominee with real life experience.
Read more..
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Email This Post
Newly minted Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will enjoy the highest honor of her young career on Saturday — she’ll be throwing out the first pitch at the Yankees-Red Sox game.
Sotomayor was nominated on May 26 to replace David Souter She has rounded the bases and will now be playing in the big leagues.