Hispanic top-court nominee reason to celebrate

Patricia Quijano Dark knew exactly what time it was when she heard the news Tuesday that Sonia Sotomayor had been nominated to the Supreme Court.

It was time to celebrate.

"The news was fantastic," said the woman who is executive director of the Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Salt Lake City. "My immediate reaction was we have to celebrate."

"This is a wonderful thing," Quijano Dark continued. "America is changing. We have the first African-American president and now we have a Hispanic-American nominated to the Supreme Court. I'm not going to kid anybody and say there isn't still racism in this country, that we're all holding hands, but we're moving in the right direction. We're finally looking at who is the right candidate as opposed to what they look like or where they came from."

And while some may argue that the reason Sotomayor was nominated is precisely because of what she looks like and where she comes from, there is no arguing that her nomination goes a long way in getting in step with the demographics of a country where the second biggest ethnic group, behind Caucasians, is Hispanic-Americans.

Hispanics — people whose heritage traces back to countries where Spanish is spoken — make up 15 percent of the population (45 million out of 301 million) but have never had one of their own on the Supreme Court.

"I think generally the Supreme Court has been separated when it comes to reflecting the population," Quijano Dark said. "It's been mostly white and older — definitely not someone Hispanic from the Bronx."

The nomination gets to a personal level for Quijano Dark, who can relate to Sotomayor in so many levels.

Both women grew up in New York City. Quijano Dark spent much of her childhood in Manhattan, where her father worked for the United Nations. Sotomayor grew up in the Bronx, where she was raised by a single mother.

Both are first-generation Americans born to Hispanic parents. Quijano Dark's parents are from Argentina; Sotomayor's are from Puerto Rico.

Both matriculated to an Ivy League College. Quijano Dark attended Columbia, where she majored in international relations; Sotomayor attended Princeton and then Yale Law School.

"We grew up in the same universe," said Quijano Dark, who recalled that it wasn't always easy. "Discrimination was rampant in the '70s and '80s," she said of the New York where she was raised.

But what happened Tuesday was the opposite of discrimination.

What happened Tuesday was a sign that barriers and ceilings continue to be broken.