This episode of The Dig is brought to you by our listeners who support us at patreon.com slash the dig,

and by University of California Press, which has loads of great titles, perfect for dig listeners like you.

One that you might like is Being Brown, Sonia Sotomayor, and the Latino question by

Lazaro Lima. Being Brown tells the story of the country's first Latina Supreme Court

justices rise to the pinnacle of American public life at a moment of profound demographic

and political transformation.

While Sotomayor's confirmation appeared to signal the greater acceptance and inclusion of Latinos,

the uncritical embrace of her status as a possibility model and icon paradoxically erased the fact that her success was due to civil rights policies

and safeguards that no longer existed. Being Brown analyzes Sotomayor's story of success and

accomplishment, despite seemingly insurmountable odds, in order to ask,

what do we lose in political practice when we allow symbolic inclusion

to supplant the work of meaningful political enfranchisement?

In a historical moment of resurgent racism and unrelenting Latino bashing,

being brown explains what we stand to lose when we allow

democratic values to be trampled for the sake of political expediency.

It provides the historical vocabulary for understanding why the Latino body politic is central

to the country's future and why Sonia Sotomayor's biography

provides an important window into understanding America at this historical juncture.

Being Brown, Sonia Sotomayor, and the Latino question by Lazaro Lima, out now from University of California Press.

Welcome to The Dig, a podcast from Jacobin Magazine.

My name is Daniel Denver, and I'm broadcasting

from Providence, Rhode Island. I was going to take this week off, but with events moving so

...