Oct. 04, 2005 - 18:11 MDT

PRIME CAMPOS

I will let the article speak for itself and Mr. Paul Campos -- a professor of law at the University of Colorado. In full:

Bonfire of the absurdities

"Over the past few months I was asked by various media people for my opinion regarding who President Bush might pick to fill Supreme Court vacancies. In particuilar journalists wanted to know about the chances that this or that candidate would become the first Hispanic justice (Apparently Benjamin Cardozo -- one of the most famous judges in American history and a member of the Supreme Court in the 1930s -- doesn't count, despite being the descendant of Spaniards.)"

"I'm uncomfortable answering questions of this sort, partly because I have no more information on the subject than any other complete outsider to the selection process, but mostly because the politics of ethnicity gives me the creeps. This whole rigamarole of how appointing a "Hispanic" or "Latino" to an institution like the Supreme Court will supposedly signal that "we" have "arrived" as fully accepted members of American society has always struck me as basically fraudulent."

"I'm quite sure most other native-born Hispanics share my sense of never having doubted for a moment that we were just as American as anybody else, while at the same time never having been under the impression that we were as likely as say, George W. Bush or John Kerry to end up getting elected to Skull and Bones or the presidency of the United States."

"Identity politics in general, and ethnic pride in particular, is a subject beset by all sorts of ironies. For one thing, it's always seemed to me somewhat unfortunate that people are driven to take pride in their ethnic background. Taking pride in being a member of Group X is almost always a reaction to Group X finding itself in a culture in which Group X is treated as being in some way inferior."

"Thus everyone would recognize the absurdity of white males taking pride in the appointment of John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Indeed people react with pity and disgust to people who take pride in being white, since it's understood that people take pride in belonging to a culture's dominant ethnic group only when they have nothing else to be proud of."

"This week, the absurdities of contemporary ethnic politics are on display in Denver, as participants in the annual Columbus Day parade prepare to have their free speech rights trampled by the usual rabble of coffee shop radicals and psuedo-intellectual poseurs."

"Colombus Day parades are products of Italian-American ethnic pride, which in turn is a product of the rapidly receding era when Italian-Americans were not fully "white." (I suspect Columbus, as a citizen of the ancient city of Genoa, would have been taken aback to find himself transformed into an Italian icon, given that the concept of an Italian people didn't exist in his time). As such these parades are a bit of an anachronism, although a harmless one in the eyes of all but a few lunatics."

"Speaking of which, while there is something sad about people taking pride in being Hispanic or Italian-American, and something disturbing about people taking pride in being white, there is something sad, disturbing, and yet in the end pretty darn funny about white men who take pride in being Indians."

"The white man who claims to be an Indian is, I suppose, an inevitable product of two forces. The first is affirmative action, which creates powerful incentives to engage in what might be called Entrepreneural Reverse Passing. The second is the Cinderella fantasy, which causes so many adolescents to dream that they are descentded from someone more glamorous than their impossibly boring parents."

"Most people outgrow this fantasy, but some have managed to turn it into a career."

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The professor has some very good points, I think. I am proud of myself in most aspects in spite of my failings, I can take pride and shame for what I have done.

I love my ethnicity and ancestry, because they are after all family. Proud of what they have made of themselves, but I take no pride in that for myself. I am proud of our children for what they have made of themselves too, but it is not overweening, just happiness for them.

Here in Denver the Columbus Day Parade was just one of many, Saint Patrick's Day is another I can think of offhand. For years these parades have been held in peace. I think it is like the mindset of many who scream bloody murder if a team is named after their tribe. I wonder, are the team of Notre Dame still called, "The Fighting Irish" ? Should I of Irish blood begin to demonstrate ? ? ?

In my personal opinion it is great that we all celebrate the customs of our ethnicity, remembrance is a great thing. But in the process of becoming American Citizens, even if Mama and Papa couldn't master English language, they made sure their kids became fluent -- back in my day. They made sure the kids fit in with society as well.

Memories are great things, I live in them every day. I salute Mr. Campos. This article of his is PRIME CAMPOS