11.29.08
more on the name game…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081129/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_what_s_in_a_name
A president named Obama changes the name game
NEW YORK – Zenas Ackah has heard it all his life: What kind of name is that? You must not be from here. You must be foreign. Actually, no. Born in the United States, the 22-year-old college senior with the Greek first name and the Ghanian last name grew up in Philadelphia.
But Ackah is hopeful that change is coming, that the idea of an “American” name will expand beyond monikers like Tom and Harry and Sally and Jane and Smith and Jones. He figures he’s got a strong weapon on his side — for at least the next four years, when people look to the most powerful American in the country, the “uber-American” if you will, they’ll be looking at President Barack Hussein Obama.
“I think it will help people understand that people in America aren’t just John, Jack, Mary,” Ackah said. “They’re Zenas and Barack.”
Obama’s name gave him his share of trouble during the campaign. He acknowledged its unfamiliarity to most Americans, and there were times when supporters of his opponent made a point of using his middle name, which was seen as an attempt to cast doubt on his background and faith.
But the next four years will ensure that his name is no longer unfamiliar.
People have already named their infants after him.
The more people hear it, the more mainstream it becomes, said Don Nilsen, a professor of English linguistics at Arizona State University and co-president of the American Name Society.
“Who is more American than the president of the United States?” he said. “There’s no question it will have a ripple effect, because of the power of the position.” Read the rest of this entry »
11.24.08
…which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
Much has been said about the winning campaign of Barack Obama, primarily that race is no longer a concern. But that is not what I want to discuss. For so long, miniorities have been concerned about a major marker of their idenity—their name. Every ethnic group that has/is at the bottom of the totem pole has changed their name. Italians did it. Jewish folks have done it. Asians are no strangers. Within the Black community, it has been forced and voluntary. We all remember the emblematic scene from Roots, where Kunta was beaten to yielding to his new name of Toby. From slavery until the 70s, Blacks routinely named children with White sounding names. With the emergence of the Civil Rights and Black Panther era, we began to see cultural pride in ethinic names. African names resurged and people began to invent names with no regard as to how mainstream Americans would react. Yet, we regressed. “Black sounding” names were seen as a defect. Bestowing a name that would signifiy that a child was Black was seen as possible hinderance in the world. It would become one more obstacle for them to overcome. Also, it was/is a source of mockery and derison from other Black people. Folks laugh at names that incoporate an apostrophe or that end in -isha/-kwan/-nique. I have always had trouble understanding the detrimental effects of names that would signal one’s ethnicity. In my opinion, if someone refuses to review your application based on your name, then the problem does not lie within in your name. It is your ethnicity that they have a problem with it, which is 100% out of your control. Let’s say there’s a Black man named Edward Smith who has a racist empolyer that was caught off guard by his white sounding name on his resume and actually hired Mr. Smith. We all know that Smith would be expected to perform at an unattainable standard because his employwer would be meticuoulsy watching for any minor infractions that would give cause for termination. People like Oprah, Denzel, Beyonce, Condoleeza, and now Barack have shown us that a name will not thwart one’s achievements. Racists and bigots are more concerned with skin color than one’s name. Nothing you do or say will ever change their mind because the onus is on them to work through their preconceived notions. My hope is that people will see Barack’s success as another piece of evidence that one’s non-mainstream name is not an impasse for achievement.
