Latina law students feel lift after Sotomayor

Latina law students get a lift
Sotomayor's tough climb and her bid for Supreme Court justice awe and inspire DePaul women
By Oscar Avila | Chicago Tribune, July 19, 2009

Perhaps the hardest thing for Sonia Sotomayor in law school was that there were no Sonia Sotomayors. That's where the daughter of poor Puerto Rican parents from the Bronx said she started "not feeling completely a part of any of the worlds I inhabit."

So, Sotomayor's confirmation hearings have been especially poignant for Latina law students who share not only a common ethnic heritage but, in many cases, similar tough climbs to success. The incoming president of DePaul University's Latino Law Student Association, for example, is the daughter of two formerly undocumented immigrants.

While much has changed from Sotomayor's days at Yale Law School, the DePaul students say the hearings show that Latinas in the law still have to face questions about whether they will be slaves to ethnic loyalties and whether affirmative action is discriminatory. Even at DePaul -- where minorities made up 23 percent of last year's students -- Latina students report that daily life can be filled with loneliness and tests to their self-confidence.

Nationwide, nearly 90 percent of lawyers are white. Race-based admission policies have been challenged for decades, with a prominent UCLA professor asserting recently that they actually harm black students. In 2003, the Supreme Court narrowly ruled that the University of Michigan could use race as a factor in law-school admissions.

Still, for minority law students, these have been inspiring days, what with the president, first lady and most recent Supreme Court nominee being minority lawyers. DePaul had hoped to invite Sotomayor to speak when it hosts a national conference for Latino law students in late September. Now it appears likely that she will have more pressing obligations.

Rocio Alcantar, 23, Third-year law student, Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, Mexican descent

"Law school has been one of the hardest stages in my life, you could say. I went to a very good college, undergraduate, and I thought I was prepared to deal with being a minority. I feel more odd than I did in undergrad, maybe because it really sticks in my mind that a lot of people have experiences within the law system that I just never had. A lot of them have parents who are lawyers; they know the process. The first couple of days, I realized, 'I have no idea what these people are talking about.'

"This goes to the debate over affirmative action, that we got here because we are Latinos. Just like Sotomayor said, 'Latinas are products of affirmative action.' That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it. It just means you had a lot more disadvantages. To balance the ground, you might need a little more assistance, if you want to call it that.

"You have all these challenges, so it was so exciting to hear that [Sotomayor] was going to be the one. This country was founded on equality for all. For a long time, those words were vague and didn't mean much, the reality of who the country was. Now, seeing that those words have more truth to them, it's really inspiring. It's inspiring not only for the fact that she is a Latina, but you realize her family struggled through a lot for her to get there. That's what I value the most."

Lilian Jimenez, 30, Second-year law student, South Chicago neighborhood of Chicago, Mexican-Puerto Rican descent

"It's an insult that they have spent so much time on her ethnicity, that she's going to be -- What are they saying? -- too empathetic. The white males are so on the defensive. You get the tiniest bit of progress and all of a sudden you're accused of being a racist? It doesn't make any sense.

"The way that the senators are questioning Sotomayor is similar to the way that a lot of students see us as Latinos. They see that we have an organization and they automatically think we are excluding them and they get offended. There are so few of us. How are we a threat? You can't say anything because you don't know how it's going to be taken. They would be like, 'This person is just another radical Latina.'

"When I was in high school, I didn't walk around saying, 'I'm Puerto Rican; I'm Mexican.' When you get to college and you're confronted with negative stereotypes, you're forced to either assimilate and forget who you are and try to deny it or take the other road and try to learn more about where you came from. That's what I did.

"You keep going forward, and to see [the confirmation hearings for Sotomayor], it's almost unbelievable. I'm sure some people think the same way about the president being African-American. I grew up on the South Side of Chicago, similar to where she grew up. I know how hard it is. I can't imagine how she did it, just knowing all the barriers that are in your way."

Vanessa Pineda, 23, Second-year law student, President of Latino Law Student Association, Phoenix, Mexican-Salvadoran descent

"I guess the 'wise Latina' comment is tough to defend, but I see where she's coming from. You're going to look at things differently than a white male. Some people say it should all be black and white. I don't think it can be. There has to be something that says, 'I know what this is like and that's how I interpret it.' Obviously, you look at the law, but there's no way to take out that bias. Everyone has it, even the white male who has had his own experiences. Even people who say they don't do that do that.

"I can't deny that race helped me. I just think it's bad that other people get the perception that you don't do anything at all. Even though race helps, there's still a certain amount of work I had to do just to get considered. I don't think the push is bad because we need diversity to have different ideas. I just wish other people would recognize that there's more work to it than just signing up, filling out an application, marking a certain box and getting in. I had to get good grades and do all the other things they did, too.

"She had it a lot harder than anyone has it in law school now. She fought a different battle. Back in her time, it was a fight just to be a judge. Even as she is having her hearings, I still feel like maybe another Latina that is my age could get up there just as easily. She has opened the door. We have a black president. The possibilities are endless."