Best of - Sonia Sotomayor: Power of Words

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Academy of Achievement

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4.6 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 19 September 2022

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept 15 - Oct 15) by taking a new listen to our 2017 episode on United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Justice Sotomayor tells the extraordinary story of her voyage from the most dangerous neighborhood in the United States, to the highest court in the land -- a voyage fueled by the power of words. In a wide-ranging conversation with NPR's Nina Totenberg, recorded at the Supreme Court in 2016, Sotomayor shares her earliest memories of life in the tenements of the South Bronx: her diagnosis with diabetes, her trips to the market with her beloved grandmother, her father's death, and her love affair with books. She also talks about how she learned to learn, and to rely on the wisdom of friends and colleagues -- skills that carried her through Princeton, Yale, her prestigious legal career, and one beautiful throw from the pitcher's mound. (c ) American Academy of Achievement 2017-2022

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's Alice.
0:05.0	In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month,
0:08.0	which began on September 15th,
0:10.0	we're bringing back our episode on Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
0:16.2	That episode first aired five years ago, and it features an in-depth personal conversation
0:21.6	between Justice Sotomayor and journalist Nina Totenberg.
0:26.0	Well, the Supreme Court has changed considerably since then,
0:30.0	but what remains the same today is that Sonia Sotomayor is the most celebrated, successful,
0:36.3	and important Latina in the United States.
0:39.6	Just Google Hispanic Heritage Month and you will find her image prominently displayed on
0:45.1	nearly every site. A few months ago Justice Sotomayor spoke at the National
0:51.0	Convention of the American Constitution Society, a liberal legal organization,
0:56.9	and among many topics she talked about the value of diversity and of example, the impact for people of seeing such of during the nomination process when I was complaining about the rigors of the process
1:16.0	and how horrible it was and why did I choose to do this etc.
1:20.1	She looked at me and she said Sonia Sonia, this is not about you.
1:24.6	This is about my eight-year-old daughter seeing someone like herself
1:29.1	in one of the highest positions in the United States
1:31.7	and knowing that she too has a chance.
1:35.0	And I think that that is such a critical reason for diversity because we need to ensure everyone who's a part of our
1:48.0	society that we have an equal chance to achieve our dreams.
1:55.7	At that same event,
1:56.8	Justice Sotomayor also had a message for the audience
	...

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