The rumblings in the news about Sonia Sotomayor and Melody Morales are disturbing in their similarity.

As most probably know, the former is a Supreme Court justice nominee, but if you live outside of the New York area, you may not know about Morales. She has sued the Hawaiian Tropic Zone, a Manhattan eatery, for not hiring her because the managers are alleged to have said, “You don't speak white,” “You are ghetto,” and “I am not going to ruin my business with your Latin accent.” While the discourse about Sotomayor may be languaged at a higher level than the vulgarities being hurled at Morales, essentially it boils down to lack of “whiteness.”

Truly, this baffles me. Do those in the prevailing ethnic group -- or gender or race, etc. -- not see that their life experience within that ethnicity has colored their life’s outcome and world view? Don’t you think the serving Caucasian justices are influenced by their experience as a Caucasian? Of course they are.

I’ll let the legal scholars parse the finer points of Sotomayor’s career decisions on the bench and the merits of Morales’ case, but let’s pull the lens out. Isn’t our world view, influenced by our history, an asset?

For instance, I don’t think it is a coincidence that I attract a lot of Italian-American women in their 30s and 40s to my life coaching practice. Partly it’s geography, but there is something shared there that goes much deeper. We get each other on a level that few outside of our ethnicity would. Yet in some ways we couldn’t be further apart, i.e., politically and spiritually. We can’t be painted with a broad brush any more than “white” men can.

This brings to mind a distant memory that is worth resuscitating because it illustrates a nuanced point. I used to be a sports writer at a mid-sized newspaper. When I was hired, there were some rumblings of it being an “affirmative action” hire. I don’t know if that’s true, but what I do know is I focused on what I saw as the bigger matter at hand – Could I do the job well? The answer was a resounding yes.

When I received a “Sports Writer of the Year” award from the association that governs statewide high school sports, my supervising editor – who was highly supportive of my work – told me that the sports staff had been discussing my award and decided that they must have wanted to give it to a woman that year. He chose to share this, by the way, on our way back from the very banquet where I had been presented with the honor.

After over a decade in the sports writing field and with 10 years elapsed since I was in the profession, this is the perspective I have taken away. I did not bring a ‘stats’-oriented mind to sports writing. I wasn’t particularly well-versed in this defensive strategy vs. that one. And I won’t pretend that those things didn’t occasionally get in the way. But I am a keen observer, a very good listener and I have a writing gift. I focused on people and issues, and the drama and beauty of sport. I was particularly good at recreating the tension of a game on deadline.

Were those inherently female qualities? I wouldn’t say so. And yet, much of my reputation was built because there was a void in coverage of girls’ and women’s sports and I gave a lot of females a voice and a presence on the sports page. However, one of my favorite compliments came after a college football coach -- who was none-too-thrilled that I was covering his team -- told me at the end of the season’s championship run, “Your article about the game was the best thing that’s ever been written about any game I’ve been a part of.”

In other words, bringing an (admittedly, often strident) inclusiveness agenda to the table didn’t preclude me from doing the whole job and doing it well. My viewpoint added a dimension to the overall coverage. When the newspaper decided to rotate front-page Sunday columnists, it was openly stated among my colleagues that me and my African-American co-worker were chosen for being female and black, respectively. Our white male columnist – a smart guy and terrific writer – was apparently the only one who was chosen on merit.

To be clear, this isn’t about sending out invitations to a pity party. Quite the contrary. It was a positive experience and I highly respect the guys on that sports staff because we did some fabulous work.

A sports staff may not be the Supreme Court, but the larger point is that it’s time to elevate the national discussion about what people bring to a job. Maybe a qualified Latina and the perspective she brings is just what the Court needs.

There, I said it.

Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.