High-Achieving Nonwhites Of New America:The Mathew Martoma Case, By the (Ethnic) Numbers
02/07/2014
Over at Above the Law, David Lat breaks down the recent insider-trading conviction of
once forged
a former Harvard law student who
What impressed me was how well the case and its players represent what I'll call the high-achieving nonwhites of New America.
Defendant Mathew Martoma: Indian (dot not feather)
- U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara: Indian (dot not feather)
- Defense Attorney Roberto Braceras: White Hispanic
- Attorney Marc Mukasey: Jewish
- David Lat: Filipino
The prosecution itself — that of an Indian-American by an Indian-American — reminds me of Italian-American Rudy Giuliani going after Italian mobsters.
This ethnic mix reveals the ascendant power players of today: Jewish, Indian, Asian, some white. Absent are blacks and Hispanics (unless, of course, they're Caucasians bearing Spanish names) and your more standard-issue, non-exotic whites (straight, Christian, Midwestern, etc.)
Note how these players build the same generational power-passing once practiced by WASPs — but which of course do not catch the same criticism.
Read the alumni magazine of any Ivy League school and you'll see the same pattern: Josh Weinstein marries Grace Wu, over and over.