I’m one of the leaders of a girl gang of Latinas. Many are heads of non-profits, executive directors of institutions, trustees of universities, holders of political office, change agents in education who saw school integration to fruition. Since we are a girl gang of elders who have many young students who are also movers and shakers in our culture now, we wanted a unifying group symbol and decided on black leather jackets bearing our La Señora de Guadalupe on the back– with “Las Marias”– our informal group name embroidered at the top… but what to say at the bottom?
(R) Senators Cornyn and Coburn have given us the perfect solution: ¡Muchisimas gracias!
It’s odd, at first the dustup over Judge Sotomayor’s ‘wise Latina woman’ remark, didnt rankle Latinos much. It just looked like politics as usual before and during the hearings over the last ten years or so.
But, in speaking with many Latinas yesterday and today, something changed in the midst of the hearings yesterday afternoon and deepened today… re Senators repeatedly pounding on this phrase “wise Latina woman” until it has gone from being a phrase of interest, to being an iconic ideal… as a result of the perseveration by various politicos about it all… and I wont go into detail about the ‘splaining’ remark by Senator Coburn today. It was a non-sequitur. And we’ve all heard the Ooooooo Rickie?! joke before.
Just this: When Latinos are silent, it doesnt mean they agree.
And also this: When Latinas refer to themselves as ‘wise women’ they are most often echoing a childhood of hearing over and over again something their grandmothers and mothers said to them… and most adults who had the treasure of living with immigrant grandparents or parents heard something like this too (besides, hush and eat your carrots or you’ll go blind)… “I may just be an old Italian woman, but I’m a wise Italian woman…” et al, fill in with heritage, ethnicity of one’s choice. It is the same. It is a figure of speech.
I know some made much of it. And perhaps they were right to question, especially if they didnt understand the nuance. But to most of the Latinas I know, and they are legion, there are far more important inquiries to be made about what a person will bring to an official appointment, not only what one or another hopes a person will not bring.
It’s a safe bet, that after watching and reading about the Sotomayor hearings and the repetitions and arch tone of certain questioners, even for the most acculturated Latinos who do not register like a seismograph whenever they are badgered by others, or others attempt to diminish them… that the Latino constituency of the Republican party will be, as they say, like hen’s teeth in coming days.
That’s too bad, there are some great young people, especially, in the Republican party who have refreshing minds, and are not just younger versions of the old predictable guard.
In the meantime, Las Marias, and all those who strive to be wise women–and wise men– each in his and her own ways, meaning souls from all groups here in the US– will keep an eye on who bullies whom, who seems fair and who seems not so, who has transparency of motive for witnessing, and who has cunning hidden agendas…
and from what we see, what we learn, what we know then… we will all, in our own ways… guide the young accordingly.