Racist?
Some are claiming that Soñia Sotomayor is a racist. Is she?

Since that criticism is current, we need to look at the current definition of the word "racist". Years ago, in a discussion with an attorney friend of mine, I mentioned the dictionary definition of a certain word. My well-educated friend suggested that a dictionary is more a history book than a rule book. It doesn't tell us how a word MUST be defined, but rather how educated people are currently using the word in serious manuscripts. Or, at least, how expert lexicographers are interpreting that usage.

True, meanings of words change. For most of my youth, the word "gay" invoked an image of children dancing around a decorated maypole - not some clown in a bizarre outfit with hair died the colors of the rainbow, marching in a parade to express his pride.

During those same years, "racist" made one think of white hoods, burning crosses and nooses. Today those things rightly mean "criminal"; to some, hate crime, wherein the usually prescribed 40 lashes are supplemented by 10 or 15 more for having thought ugly things while committing some heinous crime. Or, maybe just for the joy of punishing. Like the old birthday whippings wherein a child got one whack on the backside for each year of the newly attained age, plus "one to grow on", plus a couple more because it was fun to smack someones butt without the fear of retribution.

Today, racist more often means a belief that one's own race makes him somehow superior to every single man of a different race, and allowing that belief to influence one's judgement in substantive matters. By that definition, Sotomayor's remark comparing the judgement of a Latina woman to that of a white man, certainly makes her a racist. If she had left out the word Latina it would not have been racist... just stupid. She did not leave it out.

By my current definition, I must admit that I, also, am a bit of a racist. But, I do not count myself among the superior group. Someone once suggested to me that the superior people are the ones who reside in a climate which requires a complete wardrobe change during the course of the year. What?

In the summer of 1950, I worked for a radio station in Ladysmith, WI. In those days, radio stations often kept "official" temperature and precipitation measurements for the U.S. Weather Bureau. The station had reliable people on duty 365 days a year to read the instruments and it cost the government nothing beyond the cost of the instruments. The stations earned the privilege of being able to announce the "official" temp and precip numbers.

One day I looked through some of the weather records at that Wisconsin station and saw winter low temperature entries such as -30º F. Can that be correct? I was assured that it was. Thinking of my old Model A Ford in the parking lot, I asked how you got your car started at 30 below. The local guy just shrugged and explained that, at the approach of winter, you made sure your car had a tuneup and a thinner grade of motor oil. On colder nights, you used a dipstick warmer. (Seriously - for you folks in the south - they remove their engine's dipstick and replace it for the night with one that has a cord which plugs into an electrical outlet and actually gets warm.)

When the first frost came in mid-September, I thanked everyone for their hospitality and headed south.

Yes, those folks make a complete wardrobe change during the course of the year. Unlike we pansies who lounge in moderate temperatures all year 'round... or the folks who huddle is their igloos twelve months of the year, the race that nonchalantly conducts their lives in both hot and cold, are superior in my book. (Even if they do speak with a strange accent!)