Posted on 05/27/2009 5:30:37 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
WASHINGTON – Benjamin Cardozo was indisputably the second Jewish justice on the Supreme Court. Was he also the first Hispanic? There is no conclusive answer.
The Federal Judicial Center, on its Web site, says he was not. Some readers, objecting to the description of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the first Hispanic nominee to the high court, say Cardozo was Hispanic.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Well, the cardozo family identifies themselves of Jews from Portuguese heritage - so I am going to have to side with them and choose no.
Of course, I am using the “official” definition of Hispanic: i.e. Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. If you use the original hispanic definition - one from the iberian peninsula - then Basque, Portugeuse are all lumped in there.
one of myriad threads on your subject of yesterday ; )
I remember all the talk about Joe Lieberman being the first jewish major party presidential candidate and thinking “What about Barry Goldwater?”
this exactly why picking somebody because of their supposed minority group membership is total BS
Are they saying that Brazil is not a Hispanic nation?
I think it of UTMOST importance that we have a Latina Supreme COurt Justice, and not try to undermine her historic opportunity, by finding other possible “Latino” justices in the past! Just think of what an important thing it was when Carol Moseley Braun was elected in Illinois! I remember seeing her dancing when she was elected and tears came to my eyes! (sarc)
Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Cuban* [*Precision would seem to require the use of terms such as "Mexican American" and "Cuban American." But even these are not precise, because they typically refer to aggregates that include both the assimilated members of the group and recent immigrants for whom the suffix "-American" is, arguably, inappropriate. For the sake of conciseness, therefore, I use the terms "Mexicans" and "Cubans."] leaders often denounce the term "Hispanic" as a stereotypic label concocted during the 1970s by ignorant government bureaucrats intent on cramming diverse groups into one ill-fitting category. And one is tempted to agree, since only eight percent of "Hispanics" use the label to identify themselves. Yet these same leaders resort to "Hispanic" when it suits their purposes. Bureaucrats did not found the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in 1976. Nor did bureaucrats stretch the term to include then-Representative Tony Coelho (of Portuguese descent) and the non-voting congressional delegates from the Virgin Islands and Guam.
Depends on your definition.
Historically, Portugal is just one of the many regional kingdoms of the Iberian peninsula, which was called Hispania by the Romans. Others were Castile, Leon, Navarre, Catalonia, Aragon, etc.
Portugal is the only one that managed to avoid being swallowed up by the Castilian monarchy and thus not become “Spanish.”
Historically, by any reasonable standard, Portugal is every bit as “Hispanic” as the rest of the peninsula.
In common use, however, Hispanic often refers to specifically Spanish rather than Iberian in general.
In other words, she's the first La Raza justice.
PING!
later
Looked that up because of the bit about Portugal being on the Iberian peninsula.
That is a truly fascinating thing. Apparently somebody from Spain does not qualify as being Hispanic, at least per the official Census Bureau definition. According to a strict use of their definition, neither do Brazilians, Surinamese, Guineans, or Guyanese. I wonder whether, legally, Peruvian or Bolivian aboriginal immigrants would qualify as hispanic (if their native tongue is a native language other than Spanish).
Further, I wonder how many folks are misidentified for the purposes of schools, scholarships, and HR purposes.
Maybe Lusitanian-Americans or Luso-Americans need to force the government to recognize them as a separate group. And since some immigrants from former Portuguese colonies (Brazil, East Timor, Goa, Portuguese Guinea, Cape Verde Islands, Mozambique, Angola) are non-white, they would be a "protected" or privileged group.
Maybe Dinesh D'Souza should get to work on this.
Who frickin’ cares? This country is going down the tubes, and all people are worried about is what race somebody is.
Barry Goldwater’s paternal ancestry was Jewish, but he was not Jewish by religion and I believe his mother was not Jewish, so he was not Jewish by Jewish religious law. And anyway since he was a Republican, he wouldn’t have counted.
When I completed the 2000 census, I was categorized as hispanic. I have ancestory from Spain. I remember that the question specifically included Spain and Portugal. Normally, I see it as “non-European.”
They must have changed the census definition recently. Read my post. (Should be before this one)
Good point!
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