On Sonia Sotomayor: Words from 'wise Latinas'

'I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." Those words, delivered by Judge Sonia Sotomayor in a 2001 speech, have come up repeatedly as the Senate Judiciary Committee considers Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court. It made us wonder: How were the questions playing with other "wise Latinas"? Times editorial writer Marjorie Miller asked several successful Latinas what the term means to them and how they have viewed the hearing. An edited transcript of their comments follows.

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Rossana Rosado

Publisher, El Diario, New York

When I hear the phrase "wise Latina," I think of my mom, and I think of women like Sonia's mom, whose story of triumph is amazing. It's a story that is common to those of us who are from immigrant families. My parents, like Sonia Sotomayor's, are from Puerto Rico, so technically they're not immigrants, but it's still the experience of moving to a new land and struggling against the odds so kids in the next generation can become newspaper publishers or judges.

I've given a lot of thought to why the "wise Latina" speech caused such an uproar and how it plays to different audiences. Women in my professional and personal circles are busy ordering T-shirts and buttons with the phrase. We want to be wise Latinas.

The senators seem to be reacting to the second half of her statement, the part where she said a wise Latina was likely "to reach a better conclusion than a white man who had not lived that life."

I must have been 8 or 10 when Billie Jean King played Bobby Riggs. I came up in that era of "women can do it better" and "you've come a long way, baby." People said Ginger Rogers did the same thing Fred Astaire did, only backward and in high heels -- not to denigrate Fred Astaire. For us, all of that meant you could aspire. It was a time when the whole issue of women's rights was dealing with fighting the perceptions.

I think most women in this country embrace the concept that you bring something as a woman that you don't bring as a man. "Better" in the context of that speech was fine. I think surely that if you knew something you said today was going on the record for something very important you were going to do years from now, surely you would say it very differently. But as we have watched a panel of predominantly white men questioning her, it's no surprise that they might be put off by that description.