On September 22nd, 2009, I attended a workshop titled “Changing America : Judge Sonia Sotomayor”. When I came to the room, it was already fulled. Some people who came late even had to stand up or sit on the floor during the whole workshop.
One of the speakers described mainly about the background of Sotomayor as a pioneer in her college and job life. She went to Princeton in 1962 as the first generation of women who went to obtain undergraduate degree. Recently, she also became the first latin woman in the court. The other speaker focused on the fact that she was a Latino, the race that many times considered outsiders and at the disadvantaged position. She mentioned that after the civil war, the lives of African-American and Latino are not better compared than forty years ago. She also revealed the founding about the correlation of names and the chance to obtain jobs. She stated that employers tend to set aside applicants with names that sounds like African-American and Latino. Overall, she concluded that racism towards certain group of people still exist in the United States.
After three speakers gave out their presentation, we are allowed to ask questions. Quite a few people asked questions to the speakers. The limitation of time caused the workshop organizer to limit the number of questions. The workshop, however, still ended more than 30 minutes late.