There are cultural biases built into testing, and that was one of the motivations for the concept of affirmative action - to try to balance out those effects.

The Latina in me is an ember that blazes forever.

Remember that no one succeeds alone. Never walk alone in your future paths.

When a young person, even a gifted one, grows up without proximate living examples of what she may aspire to become--whether lawyer, scientist, artist, or leader in any realm--her goal remains abstract. Such models as appear in books or on the news, however inspiring or revered, are ultimately too remote to be real, let alone influential. But a role model in the flesh provides more than inspiration; his or her very existence is confirmation of possibilities one may have every reason to doubt, saying, 'Yes, someone like me can do this.

I listened very, very carefully to the world around me to pick up the signals of when trouble was coming. Not that I could stop it. But it made me observant. That was helpful when I became a lawyer, because I knew how to read people's signals.

You can't be a minority in this society without having someone express disapproval about affirmative action.

I'm a New Yorker, and I jaywalk with the best of them.