By Mamie-Louise Anderson

A friend was dubious about my support of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. To explain, I first shared a couple of the judge’s recent quotes:

“Each day on the bench I learn something new about the judicial process and about being a professional Latina woman in a world that sometimes looks at me with suspicion,” she said.

“I can and do aspire to be greater than the sum total of my experiences but I accept my limitations,” Judge Sotomayor added. “I willingly accept that we who judge must not deny the differences resulting from experience and heritage, but attempt, as the Supreme Court suggests, continuously to judge when those opinions, sympathies and prejudices are appropriate.”

Now let me tell you on what grounds I consider future Chief Justice Sotomayor to be a stellar member of the Tribe of My People:

Mamie-Louise Anderson

She is My People because she was nominated by he whose judgment I trust, President Barack Obama, a man of peace, wisdom, courage and equanimity. A man of The People, for The People and by The People, unbowed by “special interests” and the prejudice that swirls around him, strategic, patient, an excellent and ethical leader and a family man, our first African American president and a new millennium leader who compels us to unify as a nation in the midst of unprecedented crisis, to join forces, despite our historical differences.

She is My People because she struggles with and manages diabetes, the ravaging disease that murdered an entire generation of my family, in light of which, her accomplishments as a disabled person amaze me.

She is My People because she loves and supports the arts, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, and has shown special fondness for ballet, which I love, too.

She is My People because she soulfully identifies with and is an advocate for the poor and for her beloved Puerto Rico, showing social conscience and sensitivity for the victimized and the willingness to fight for justice and the rule of law, never forgetting what it means to be disenfranchised, cherishing extended family in ways I may never be able to.

She is My People because she ascended from humble roots by dint of access to superior education, a lonely but necessary adventure if one is committed to social progress in this fast-paced world.

She is My People because she is brave, outspoken and dynamic, qualities in a woman that many find daunting, but which I find admirable, nonetheless. As only the third woman in our country’s history to sit on the Supreme Court, Justice Sotomayor is, by definition, a trail blazer, indeed, in a way too few men can appreciate and wise women aspire to.

She is My People because she is of my generation. Only 4 years younger than me, her story is my story in all the ways the times have changed for women, minorities, the poor and all the ways things remain the same for us to change right now.

She is My People because she hails, as I do, from el barrio. She was raised in the projects in the East Bronx and me in the tenements of Harlem and the projects of East Harlem at a time when, in New York City, the projects were viewed as a step up. She went to parochial school and I went to prep school, so our formative education was exceptional. She continued to excel at Princeton and Yale, but like Judge Sotomayor, our family housed the only Encyclopedia Britannica on the block, anchoring me to lifelong research and study as did the faith in education of those surrounding me. Bookish girls are the most unruly of all, I think, and certainly the most romantic.

She is My People because being raised in poverty by a single, hardworking, self-sacrificing mother (as I was and as I became), forever in solidarity with Puerto Rican culture, in the midst of which I came of age, her privileged education did not cause cultural amnesia, but instead, in combination with her humble roots, created a unique empathy and unrequited passion for social justice that is exactly what the Supreme Court needs as demographics shift in this new era. Obama calls it “the common touch” and “empathy.” It is this unquantifiable brilliance in a liberal judge that can help lead us out of the darkness of archaic conundrums into social enlightenment. The lived experience of humble beginnings and an uncommon education make for greatness when there is also the willingness and desire to serve.

She is My People because she’s a native New Yorker, a Boriquena from the Bronx who loves baseball, dances to Tito Puente and Celia Cruz, fought against the scourge of drugs, chased counterfeiters on motorcycle, chose a life of public service over corporate wealth and lives in the Village which is to say, she is a modern heroine, living the courage of her convictions and speaking with the tough accent that makes me feel right at home.

Most importantly, she is My People because she is an American, fellow-citizen in a nation of many stripes and blends; the country my ancestors built even when it enslaved, persecuted and disowned them; the country of slaves, imperialists, patriots, immigrants and Native Americans, the country of Freedom, whose First Black President, his First Lady and Administration are changing every day of history being made, with examples like the nomination of a first Hispanic this, first Asian that, first African American the other.

She is my sister in a country with a history of breaking down barriers to build a more perfect union — one that celebrates the greatest diversity on the face of the earth!

Mamie-Louise Anderson is an actress, author and blogger.