"Felicidades" - The meaning of Judge Sotomayor

Rene is one of the parking attendants in our office building. We have become friendly over the years. I'm from Puerto Rico, He's from Cuba. We both share a common heritage and love to talk about our islands and our people. What follows is the exchange of our conversation this Friday morning, translated into English for the sake of mutual understanding:

Rene: Felicidades / Congratulations

Larissa: For What?

Rene: Judge Sonia Sotomayor

Larissa: Ahh yes... And why is that? (my inner focus group moderator has a curious habit of appearing in random conversations)

Rene: She is a Boricua, he says with pride (Boricua being slang for Puerto Ricans and those proud of their Puerto Rican descent... you know who they are...the ones who, one way or another, have some public display of the Puerto Rican flag somewhere in their house, car or body).

Larissa: And why is that important?

Rene: If a Boricua wins, we all win. The Cubans, the Dominicans, The Mexicans... all of us Latinos.

The learning here?

LATIN PRIDE- It's real. It crosses ethnicities. It unifies our immigrant experience. It can feel like a cliche sometimes, but there is a truth there. It can unite us... but as the FIFA World Cup will soon attest, never underestimate how deep the roots to our home countries matter, particularly in sports and beauty pageants.

And as for Judge Sotomayor? We should all feel proud. The idea of a Wise Latina US President is now a reality for one of those school kids listening to President Obama last Tuesday.