Media Justice for Sotomayor

by Latoya Peterson

The Senate vote for potential Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is happening today, so I am sure the pundits will be going wild. With that in mind, I wanted to point you all to the Women’s Media Center’s campaign for Media Justice for Sotomayor.

Since the announcement of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court, some in the media have engaged in sexist and racist attacks against her. Attacks have been overt and blatant. Some have been the repetition of extreme far right commentary, often packaged as “news” and endlessly discussed in mainstream media outlets.

The Women’s Media Center is releasing its new video, “Media Justice for Sotomayor.” It documents some of these racist and sexist comments already delivered on high profile television programs, radio, print and online outlets.

As Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings approach on July 13th, The Women’s Media Center expects vigorous debate of Sotomayor’s qualifications & abilities. But we call on the media to refrain from allowing sexist and racist remarks to go unchecked.

You can help the WMC in our campaign for fair media coverage for Judge Sotomayor by contributing in the following ways:

1. Sign on to our WMC statement (listed below) supporting Media Justice for Sotomayor.
2. Pass this video on to friends, family, and members of the media through Tell-A-Friend.
3. If you are a journalist, contact the WMC for sources and experts on Sotomayor from our Progressive Women’s Voices program or SheSource.org.
4. If you see examples of sexism, racism or classicism against Sotomayor in the media’s coverage of her confirmation hearings, please send them to us.

Head over to the WMC site to sign the statement and check for updates.

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Trackbacks & Pings

  1. Attacks on Sotomayor – A Case Study in Intersectionality « Kittywampus on 30 Jul 2009 at 6:18 pm

    [...] (via Sociological Images and Racialicious) [...]

Comments

  1. Kandeezie wrote:

    I have never ever in my life heard such vile and disgusting language as I just did in that video. Holy crap. And they really (REALLY?!?!) think *they* are not the ones being racist? Seriously?

  2. Fiqah wrote:

    The search engine terms people have been using with her name to find my site recently are distinctly chilling. Sexist, racist, and since Sunday, violent. Today alone yielded “Sotomayor bitch” (twice) “hang sotomayor” and “obama sotomayor [n-bomb]“. Nice, right?

  3. Princezz wrote:

    Thank you for the update Latoya. Sonya Sotomayor is definitely under unfair attack and the media should not allow racist and sexist comments to go unchecked. Is MSM a part of the problem or the solution? In my opinion, there’s a very thin line to say the least.

    On a positive note, fortunately Sotomayor is a person of strength. More likely than not, she had to mentally prepare in advance for much of the negative and hateful ranting that would be perpetuated before, during and after her confirmation hearings.

    Yes, let’s pass the word and support her!

  4. Lisa Gates wrote:

    I am so out-of-my-skin grateful to find your blog. It’s astonishing that strength in women is still equated to epithets like bitch, taskmaster, domineering, PMSing.

    Says more about the good ol boys than it does women.

    I think we need to launch a new cable netword ala CNN and call it BNN—Bitch Network News.