“Ethnic Correctness”: More Diversity Perversity

I have posted several times about the perverse alacrity with which ethnic advocacy groups drop their demands for diversity whenever it conflicts with their even stronger need for ideological conformity. I pointed out here, for example, that in its stumbling haste to oppose Miguel Estrada’s nomination to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit last fall the Congressional Hispanic Caucus forgot to update its web site, which listed … Miguel Estrada as the sort of candidate to bring “Hispanic representation” and “diversity of thought and action” to the federal bench. Here, I discussed the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund’s opposition to Estrada because they did not want “a Hispanic Clarence Thomas.”

Now they’re at it again. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said in effect that Estrada isn’t really Hispanic; “he simply shares a surname.” And on NRO this morning Byron York, in “Dems to Miguel Estrada: You’re Not Hispanic Enough,” quotes more of the same:

Rep. Menendez

Being Hispanic for us means much more than having a surname…. It means having some relationship with the reality of what it is to live in this country as a Hispanic American.

Angelo Falcon, Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund

As the Latino community becomes larger and larger in the country, as we gain more political influence, as we become more diverse, the issue of what is a Hispanic becomes more problematic…. It’s not good enough to simply say that because of someone’s genetics or surname that they should be considered Hispanic.

Mariso Demeo, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund

Not only is Estrada not authentically Hispanic, Demeo argued, but his elevation to the federal bench would “crush” the American dream for millions of genuine Hispanics in the United States.

To these activists, in short, being authentically Hispanic requires much more than being simply, well, Hispanic. Do rank and file Democrats know that their leaders have lined up behind this “ethnic correctness” masquerading as diversity?

And what steps do admissions officers, say at the University of Michigan, take to ensure that the preferences they extend to Hispanics go only to authentic Hispanics? Have the Hispanic Caucus, PRLDEF, and MALDEF taken any steps — such as sending material on how to identify a real Hispanic — to make sure admissions officers do not engage in the fraud of assuming that everyone who “simply shares a [Hispanic] surname” is Hispanic?