Representative Betty Brown Doesn’t “Want to Learn Chinese” to Say Your Name

by Latoya Peterson

Representative Betty Brown of Texas made waves yesterday by requesting that Asian voters “adopt a name we could deal with” when voting and filling out identification forms. The “we” specifically means meant Americans – but obviously, in Brown’s world, there are no Americans of Asian decent.

The Houston Chronicle notes:

“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?” Brown said.

Brown later told Ko: “Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?”

In reading over this article, three things jumped to mind:

Issue One: Problem was, most of these people were already using two names:

Ko told the committee that people of Chinese, Japanese and Korean descent often have problems voting and other forms of identification because they may have a legal transliterated name and then a common English name that is used on their driver’s license on school registrations.

Issue Two: Ko, brought up people of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean descent. They all got lumped into “Chinese” when she gave her answer.

Issue Three: There is already a problem with Asian American voters being disenfranchised for various reasons. This comment may actually work out to be something positive for Asian American voters as Brown’s ignorant remarks brought attention to a measure that would have normally flown under the radar.

UPDATE: Readers PPR Scribe and Sukjong note that there is a fourth issue at play.

Issue Four: Brown’s comments help to reinforce the common stereotype that Asian-Americans are perpetual foreigners, that these citizens who are trying to exercise their right to vote are not “real Americans.”

Obviously, Brown denies any racism in her comment. Her spokesman Jordan Berry notes:

Berry said Democrats are trying to blow Brown’s comments out of proportion because polls show most voters support requiring identification for voting. Berry said the Democrats are using racial rhetoric to inflame partisan feelings against the bill.

“They want this to just be about race,” Berry said.

Typical.

Feel free to let Betty Brown’s office know what you think (politely people, make sure you say something that can go into an official record):

Email: betty.brown@house.state.tx.us
Office #s:
(512) 463-0458
(903) 675-9500

(Thanks to readers Kameelah, Cherrie, McKeeKee, and Brinstar for the tip!)

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Comments

ansel wrote:

Slight correction – the article link is to the Houston Chronicle, not Austin Chronicle. I haven’t seen this on the news here in Austin at all, which is weird.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 9:10 am ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

@ansel – Thanks for the assist. Fixed.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 9:22 am ¶
Logan wrote:

Really…. being able to say a Chinese name is not that fucking hard. Speaking it, it is about the biggest pain in the ass I’ve ever experienced (just because I don’t have the ability nor the focus to differentiate between the tones), but to be able to not say a name…. really? Even when you butcher the pronunciation (of which there’s only a few combinations which will result in this), it is usually close enough that someone can know what you mean. I mean, I get it, Chinese is a tough language to learn, but seriously, you can read and say a fucking name.

Note: The one issue I can see is in the transliteration of the names. Japanese is really easy, China I know uses the modern Pinyin system for their transliteration, though the Taiwan transliterations I know vary from county to county and are not uniform throughout the country. I’m not certain on other Asian language names. In any case though, unless you’re dealing with the pain in the ass that’s the Wade-Giles system which includes a ton of apostrophes for an allegedly more accurate English pronunciation, the transliterations of names should be good enough for whoever needs it.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 9:43 am ¶
Jess wrote:

Part of the issue is that voter ID bills are addressing a problem — voter fraud — that doesn’t really exist. The Bush Justice Department tried to find cases of people voting fraudulently — and came up empty.

Given that the SSA, the local county clerk, and my wife’s credit cards all have differing names on them — this voter ID bill is all kinds of bad.

By the way, I am no expert on Chinese, but wouldn’t transliterations differ for the same set of Chinese characters if the person doing it used the new Pinyin system or the old Romanization — like the reason that “Beijing” is not “Peking” or “Peiping” anymore? I could see the same family having people who arrived at different times having the same name spelled rather differently.

Heck, you see the same phenomenon with Russian names, though it’s less of a problem. (If you ask a Russian her name, she might say “Yelena Sharapovna” even though her last name is “Sharapov.” Also, the name “Alexandria” would be, strictly transliterated, “Aleksandra” and folks aren’t always consistent about it when they fill out forms).

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 10:04 am ¶
Vee wrote:

Latoya, I think I’ll be sending Betty Brown an email. That’s beyond f___ up. Betty Brown is just plain ignorant and obviously does not care to learn, grow or understand the issues of the Asian American community.

This reminds me of my old Asian American college instructor who asked some of his students to please use their American names. Two students refused, a Korean student despised any one who called him Chinese and refused to properly pronounce his name. And there was this Japanese kid that just simply refused to respond. I never forgot that incident.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 10:04 am ¶
macon d wrote:

Spokesman Jordan Berry claims, “They want this to just be about race.”

No, no, no, no.

No.

You just refuse to see how it IS about race. And about your boss’s racism.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 10:15 am ¶
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:

LOL this story amazes me and cracks me up. Especially since my Chinese last name “Luk” is a hell of a lot easier to pronounce than “Van Kerckhove.”

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 10:36 am ¶
ACe wrote:

All i have to say is that is someone from a forign country comes here, they should adopt a american name and learn some english.

Same for my belief that if a american goes to another country they should adopt a name in the countrys launage and also learn some of that lanuage.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 10:36 am ¶
Luscious Librarian wrote:

I sent her this short email.

Representative Brown,
I feel that your comments regarding Asian voters “adopt(ing) a name we could deal with” were unbecoming of a public official and to support the notion that familial and cultural naming practices should be subverted to meet the needs of government officials is at best undemocratic and at worst bigoted.

These comments make me wonder if 1) You believe that the government and can coerce a citizen to change their name? (I cannot help but relate this to the common practice of slave masters giving their slaves “christian(European)” names in order to strip them of their identity and make them more docile), 2) You believe that the government officials of the day will be able to successfully provide a list of “acceptable” names one should use on official documents and in public places?

Please reconsider your stance and your statement. I’m sure your belief in freedom of thought and self-governance will win out over a reluctance to take the time to offer citizens the common courtesy of asking the simple question “Pardon me. How do I pronounce this?”

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 10:42 am ¶
mememe wrote:

Ace,

“All i have to say is that is someone from a forign country comes here, they should adopt a american name…”

And this applies to those Italian-Americans with those Italian last names? Polish-Americans with those Polish last names?
Irish-Americans with those Irish last names?

Right???????

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 11:00 am ¶
Sobia wrote:

@Ace:

So we should all adopt Aboriginal names eh? Because those, in fact, are the real North American names.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 11:13 am ¶
Cindy wrote:

Wow, I was reading this and honestly looking for some subtle sign this was from the Onion. I was hoping, wishing and praying, but unfortunately, that’s where we live. Carmen, you’re so right! Some names are downright difficult to say, and guess what, they’re not Asian! I am absolutely planning on sending her an e-mail and giving her a piece of my mind.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 11:18 am ¶
sukjong wrote:

I would also like to add related Issue 4 of Brown’s comment, which is the crux of how Asian-Americans are ‘perpetual strangers’ even as 3rd and 4th generation American citizens:

Betty Brown to Ramey Ko “Do you think that it would behoove you and YOUR CITIZENS to adopt a name …,” implying very clearly that Asian-Americans are NOT American citizens but rather citizens of another country.

What that mystery country is, that can actually lump together China, Japan, South and North Korea, into one harmonious territory, is a mystery beyond anyone’s guess. Anyone’s beyond a racist’s, I guess, where countries and civilizations that have gone on for millennia as separate societies all belong to one lump ‘China’ grouping.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 12:27 pm ¶
PPR_Scribe wrote:

…that’s easier for Americans to deal with

The implication of this is that people with Asian names who are attempting to vote are not “Americans.” But this cannot be true–if they were not Americans, they would not be allowed to vote in the first place.

This story is being framed many places as being about an ignorant, clueless, foot-in-mouth individual saying something stupid.

I find it far more pernicious. The message is not “Your names are hard to pronounce.” It is “You are not real Americans.”

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 12:30 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

@PPRScribe @Sukjong –

Thanks, updated the post to reflect the fourth issue.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 12:35 pm ¶
Carolyn wrote:

I am curious about Brown conflating learning to speak a language with learning to pronounce a language (especially when on top of that what she really seems to be asking for is a consistent transliteration, which is also not the same). The idea that people who keep their “Asian” names are somehow requiring other people to become multilingual* is hyperbole. Learning to pronounce a language is not the same as learning to speak it. No one is forcing a foreign tongue down her throat.

I wonder if her choice of words (e.g., “easier to deal with”) more reflects ignorance about how language works (e.g., there is no one right or better way for languages to express meaning) or more insidious beliefs about inferiority of languages other than English. Or both, I guess.

Also, the idea that Chinese is a particularly difficult language is anglocentric, I think. It’s difficult when your first language is English, but English is apparently a tricky second language too. (I can’t back this up with personal experience, though; if anyone has more specific information, that’d be great.)

*more multilingualism would be nice, I have to say. Might help with the ignorance about how langauge works thing.

(first-time commenter, long-time reader)

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 1:05 pm ¶
Guerita wrote:

Dear ms.Betty Brown Hi , my dad is Midwesterner and boy does he have hard name to pronounce! I mean ever since I was little very few people knew how to pronounce it correctly. No my dad ’s surname was not ko ( very hard, I know!) but it was one of those hard English names which ironically was one English name that was changed to one that was easier to pronounce. But hey, English is Hard! But you know what Sometimes my friends simply ask the people whose names they have difficulty pronouncing by simply asking them what is the correct pronunciation!
Love
Guerita
(sarcasms people!)

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 1:17 pm ¶
Zara wrote:

Wow. Her comment is insulting on so many levels it’s ridiculous.

In my extended family in the US, we have quite a few non-South Asian individuals. They (mostly German, Italian, and Polish) have insanely hard to pronounce names, and joke about adopting Bengali names instead, to make their lives easier. But I guess only dem colored people need to pick more American names.

I can’t understand why she specifically targeted Chinese people, other than the fact she’s an ignorant racist buffoon. By her logic, we would all have to learn Italian to eat at the Olive Garden.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 1:24 pm ¶
Cara wrote:

Is she F’ing serious!!! Most of the Chinese names I’ve heard are only 1 to 2 syllables!! Seriously, I’m starting on my email now……on another note – this reminds me a little of the scene in roots where Kunta was beaten until he accepted his slave name “Tobey.” Accept, now there is a more sophisticated way of being offensive. But just the mere suggestion, brings back this memory to me.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 1:29 pm ¶
silverkris wrote:

ACe,
Assimilation is a 2-way street, which means while we adapt to the mainstream culture, we also ADD to it. For example, Cinco de Mayo, St. Patrick’s Day, and other cultural traditions brought over have become American traditions.

Same as it goes with names. We bring our names and our cultural heritages to America and make it a part of the landscape. Keeping our names is an essential part of one’s self-identity and dignity. There is nothing un-American about that!

Interestingly, back in the late 1970’s, in the wake of the showing of Roots, there were a number of people who de-Anglicized their surnames in celebration of their heritage.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 2:14 pm ¶
Logan wrote:

Carolyn: From my experiences with Language:

I believe that English is easier to pick up as a second language for other Euro-centric languages (French, German, Spanish, etc.) because most of the sounds in English are in those languages already, and the ones that aren’t are not difficult to pick up. Plus, the very basics of English are easy to get (namely; comparing the conjugations in French which I know vs. English, which is much, much simpler). I do think there is a connection with German and Japanese because I believe that the grammar structures are similar (I know there’s a connection, but I’m not sure if its a cultural one where Germans are just more exposed to Japanese, or if the language format is similar, I think both), but I could be wrong on that.

For an English speaker to learn Chinese, or practically anyone else really, it is difficult to pick up. A large part is that the Chinese writing and speaking system are for the most part separate (by the time you learn the connections between writing and speaking such that you could guess at a character’s meaning if you had never seen it before, you’ll have been studying for years). That, and unless you’re used to the tones and language, it will be very difficult to hold a conversation or listen to someone speak. And then with each tone, there can be about 10 – 20 characters associated with said tone, and a few different meanings per character. I’ve been in China now for 7 months, studying nightly, and my Chinese is such that while I can say what I want to say, I can by no means hold a conversation over a couple simple sentences in Chinese, nor keep up with a native speaker talking at their own pace.

Chinese to English is a little easier I think. Right now, all Chinese kids are taught the pinyin with the characters, so they’re already exposed to the latin script, even if the pronunciation on quite a few things are different. Plus, the grammar structure in Chinese and English is the same, Subject Verb Object (example; Zhe zhi da gou shi gao xing: That (Zhe zhi) big (da) dog (gou) is (shi) happy (gao xing).) The things that seem to trip them up are pronouns and conjugations on verb tenses, plus the fact that English is more wordy and requires more articles than Chinese does.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 2:17 pm ¶
Thea Lim wrote:

Guh. This is absolutely ridiculous, esp considering that Houston has the largest population of Vietnamese Americans in the country. BB needs to get with the demographic.

And similar to Carmen, ppl have much more trouble pronouncing my (Swedish/Greek) first name than my Chinese last name.

What a dolt.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 2:36 pm ¶
Ramona wrote:

To Logan and Carolyn:

I’ve been reading comments from other sites who reported Betty Brown’s comment. No offense to you or those who go into explanations about the Chinese languange and why/how it could be hard and its relations to English, cause what your saying is totally informative, but completely misses the point.

I don’t think explnations like that have anything to do with the subject matter. The people Brown was talking about were “Asian Americans” and then went right into how Chinese was a hard language to learn. Is she assuming Chinese is the only language spoken by Asian Americans?? If she wants to go into how Chinese is a hard language, fine. What I want to know how in the hell did she jump to Chinese being too hard to learn when talking about ASIAN AMERICANS as a whole??? Hmm….

And I’m not even gonna start on the whole “you and your citizens” part. Everyone else has already pointed out everything that’s wrong with this Representative.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 2:39 pm ¶
Talulah wrote:

My last name is so insanely hard to pronounce that I literally learned how to spell it before I learned how to spell. Seriously, I memorized the letters and could rattle them off when I was like, three. Although my name is really central to my identity (I’ve spent so long explaining it, I’ve gotten kind of attached), I’ve definitely given thought to taking my boyfriend’s last name if we ever get married. Because I want to be a teacher, and I’m not sure I want to have to spend every semester for the rest of my working life explaining how to pronounce my last name. The boyfriend’s last name is a cinch to say, and that might just be the path of least resistance.

Guess what? I’m Italian-American, and my boyfriend is Chinese-American. I’m sorry, Representative Brown, did I just blow your mind?

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 3:18 pm ¶
jo wrote:

That pause before “citizens” gives me the feeling she was about to say “your people”, then had a moment of doubt (”oh no, that sounds funny, doesn’t it?”) and switched it to something even worse. Like “better reassure him that I consider Asian-Americans to be citizens”. Except… ack, painful.

How grotesque. I live abroad and when I introduce myself, tend to pronounce my name in a way that people here can immediately understand (it also just comes naturally to me in the flow of a sentence). But if they try to turn it into the local equivalent by adding a consonant, they get politely but firmly corrected. Your name’s your name.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 3:28 pm ¶
Paz wrote:

The most ridiculous part for me was that Rep. Brown didn’tt need to learn any foreign language in order to communicate with Ko. She just needed to pronounce his name, which is a basic sign of respect towards any person.
BTW — his comments were cut off, and I know the post says he pointed out the problems Asians face when voting, but does anyone know what else he said? I hope he spoke up.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 3:34 pm ¶
Emmeaki wrote:

Since Asians have to learn a whole new language when they came to this country, the least we can do is learn how to pronounce their names!

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 3:40 pm ¶
jo wrote:

PS: I recently had to make phone calls to a list of about thirty people from West Africa, asking for them by name to make sure I got the right person. And in EVERY SINGLE CASE had to guess at the pronunciation of either the first or last name. Did I feel dumb? Sure. But what the hell, you apologize in advance, mangle it, are corrected, and eventually get it right. The idea that somebody ought to change one of the most personal attributes they have just to spare a perfect stranger any smidgen of discomfort is plain outrageous.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 3:48 pm ¶
SR wrote:

I’m moving to Texas in a month. I’m pleased that I will be able to annoy her with my “complicated” name.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 3:55 pm ¶
macon d wrote:

Paz: “BTW — his comments were cut off, and I know the post says he pointed out the problems Asians face when voting, but does anyone know what else he said? I hope he spoke up.”

I actually liked that about this video, and thought it was brilliant editing. I took those cut-offs as a way of pointing out how she never really let him speak–she isn’t listening to him, and especially, to those supposedly “like” him. She isn’t recognizing them as equal human beings, with names that othersshould spend a few extra seconds to learn. (But then, maybe I’m reading too much into it.)

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 3:58 pm ¶
Daniel Nguyen wrote:

Funny, really. It’s a comment which seeks to protect ignorance. People should want to learn about different cultures, not simply say “Now that you’re here, you’ve got to be like me.”

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 4:03 pm ¶
Carolyn wrote:

@ Logan: Thanks for providing the details!

@ Ramona: you are absolutely right, and thank you for pointing that out to me. In reflection, I wish I had noted that in my original comment because I knew at the time that I was going after a more peripheral topic. The major issue is not language, but identity and who gets to “count” as American (or Canadian, because I’ve heard these sentiments up here too). Focusing too much on the language being criticized (beyond clearing up any misinformation floating around) instead of who’s doing the criticizing could make it seem like the language is somehow at fault (which it isn’t).

Personally, I am interested in how language as a concept is engaged with on an everyday level, and how language barriers are socially constructed too. Betty Brown seems to think that Chinese is inconvenient, but when it’s turned around, you get stuff like “Engrish” websites and mocking of accents and pronunciation.

It’s difficult to imagine someone making the argument that citizens of countries with English as the official language should try adopting a language that immigrants could deal with more readily, but at least turnabout would be fair play.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 4:43 pm ¶
Felicity wrote:

I like how she can’t imagine that there might be poll workers who speak Chinese, Japanese or Korean, or who are (SHOCK!) of Asian descent. She not only doesn’t get that Asian-Americans are citizens, she also apparently can’t imagine that they’re already involved in the apparatus of democracy.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 4:50 pm ¶
Erica wrote:

I’ve got a German maiden name, and hyphenated German-Yiddish married named for a grand total of 15 letters (not counting the hyphen). It starts with PF, and the P is silent.

People who people who ask how it should be said, or who practice a few times and ask if they’re getting it right — those people are showing me respect. The ones who stumble over it, mangle it despite repeated corrections, refuse to say it at all (”Wow, that’s long! Haha! You don’t mind if I just use your first name?”), or worst of all try to engage me in a discussion of what a bad idea hyphenated names are and didn’t I wish I was just called Smith… those people are jerks.

Sounds like Brown falls squarely in the second category.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 5:17 pm ¶
Sanguinity wrote:

Is there a version of the video where his comments aren’t edited out? This edit where his words are not heard by anyone disturbs me.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 6:01 pm ¶
zy wrote:

While we are at it why don’t people with obsolete dorky sounding names like Betty take on cooler names like McKenzie or Britt. They will be much easier to deal with. “Betty” is so yesterday I can barely bring myself to type it out.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 6:03 pm ¶
Phrone wrote:

Seriously, what the fuck?!

How hard is it to pronounce “ko” anyway? –; (Unless there’s an issues with tones, which I could see tripping people who only spoke English up, but that’s not a reason to ban or it or anything. That’s just silly.) Anyway, I know a lot of European names (WAY MORE) that are really fucking hard to pronounce, but I don’t think anyone will be targeting them. This is such bullshit.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 6:08 pm ¶
Reiter wrote:

Lazy, ignorant, arrogant. There are no other words to describe her words and unseemly behavior/mode of thinking. The implications that us Asian-Americans are not really Americans are downright insidious. I’d like to walk up to Rep. Braun (I’m sorry, Brown is such a hard name to spell and pronouce) in uniform (I’m military and Chinese-American) and see if she can pronounce the three-letter word that’s on my name tape. Or watch her backpedal trying to find some other way to marginalize my contribution (and all citizens of Asian descent) as an American. Sorry, lady, we’re here to stay and we’re keeping our funny sounding names. Deal.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 6:42 pm ¶
Clara wrote:

For those asking for a video with Ko’s comments, I found this video off AngryAsianMan’s blog:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9hdVUzMeDw

It has the entire exchange. I think Ko was very eloquent about explaining the issues of Asian Americans, names, and identification, and was definitely a lot more patient with Brown than I would have been!

My favorite part:

Brown: Is there a proof of any kind of identification in China in order to participate in elections?
Ko: Well there’s not a lot of elections in China.

OH SNAP!

And shout out to the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), which Ko was representing!

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 7:33 pm ¶
bkwyrm wrote:

My cousins Sinead, Siobhan, Niamh, and Aoife will be thrilled to learn that they don’t have to change their names to something easier to pronounce, since they’re not Asian.
*headdesk*

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 7:37 pm ¶
gatamala wrote:

“to deal with”…you deal with flies at a picnic. Her choice of language tells you what’s up right there.

Lady, the poll workers are already “dealing with” Americans.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 8:05 pm ¶
Westerly wrote:

@ Carolyn:
“The idea that people who keep their “Asian” names are somehow requiring other people to become multilingual* is hyperbole. Learning to pronounce a language is not the same as learning to speak it. No one is forcing a foreign tongue down her throat.”

Exactly. As if the road to multi-lingualism (which this twerp obviously sees as a negative, undesirable thing) was as easy as having the common courtesy and interest to simply pronounce people’s names correctly.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 10:21 pm ¶
Rchoudh wrote:

Brown’s comments remind me of that UK Sri Lankan guy’s comments of not providing basic services to those who speak a different language/have different names. Because you know not getting rid of your old culture means you hate your new home/sarcasm.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 10:36 pm ¶
Pat wrote:

Last names in general can be very difficult. Get used to it, it’s part of being an American.

The part of the country I come from has a high number of people with Polish surnames. And guess what? They’re impossible to pronounce for a person who isn’t already familiar with them. But we deal with it, we learn to handle it. You’d be shocked at the number of people who can’t pronounce something as simple as “Ploc.”

No one pronounces my surname correctly the first time, either, as it’s French by way of Quebec.

My girlfriend is Russian, and no one gets hers right the first time either.

Surnames mark culture and history. They’re important to people, so they keep them, and pass them on to their children. And you know what? Other people, they learn to pronounce them, one at a time. It’s not that big a deal.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 10:56 pm ¶
Whitney wrote:

I’m really curious as to what an “American” last name is. *scratches head*

Goodness, one of my friends has the most difficult last name to pronounce (and on top of it, it’s difficult to spell) and she’s Romanian.

Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 11:32 pm ¶
RainaWeather wrote:

This is why I believe people should be exposed to those of different ethnicities. I remember when I was in seventh grade, about 40% of the kids in my school were Vietnamese (the rest were black). Before, most of us were NEVER around Asian people at all , but after a few weeks we learned all the different names of the Vietnamese kids, how to pronounce “Nguyen,” all about Tet, etc. We became a lot more open minded because of our willingness to learn “foreign” names.

@ Cara, you read my mind with the “Tobey” comment.

Also, does she consider “Ko” a difficult name?

Posted 11 Apr 2009 at 12:40 am ¶
mylastnameiseasy wrote:

@ACe.
Though assimilation is a fine notion, I have found America to be a cultural haven for people seeking freedom within oneself, not to completely lose their religious or cultural rights. If it is, in fact, your idea that those who come to America should immerse themselves so much in the language that they are forced to leave behind where they came from, perhaps you should better acquaint yourself with the American language before you protest again.

On a side note, being of Asian-American descent, I would like to say that more people have mispelled my last name than that of my mother’s, seeing as hers is only two letters. I see no hard pronunciation of the name “Ha.”

Posted 11 Apr 2009 at 1:18 am ¶
little mixed girl wrote:

from the video clip, i can’t understand what her issue is.
is she asking people to get an “american” first name? to change their 1st and last name?

and what do their names have to do with the polls in the first place?
are poll workers calling off names? or are they just checking them to see if they match a list of names and addresses?

i don’t think that looking at a name on an ID and comparing it to a name written in a book is linguistically challenging.

the whole thing just makes no sense…especially since as others have mentioned, there are difficult european names too…

Posted 11 Apr 2009 at 2:36 am ¶
ajsmw wrote:

I love the responses this whole thing has created!

I am an Asian-American, half Chinese and half European mixture. I have an American first name and a German last name, but my middle name (Sun Moi) is apparently the hardest thing in the world to pronounce.

Really?

Don’t we already know the word ’sun’? And what does ‘moi’ look like it might sound? “Moy”?

I’m so baffled that she states this isn’t about race.. what else could it POSSIBLY be about?

Posted 11 Apr 2009 at 3:54 am ¶
Lxy wrote:

Fucking honorary Whiteness is apparently the precondition for being a Amurikan in all but name.

This is what USA euphemistically calls the Melting Pot.

In reality, it is about compelling immigrants (especially those of a minority or non-Western background) to assimilate into the White Anglo-Saxon way.

Too bad Betty Brown has forgotten that her home state of Texas was originally part of Mexico, and that WASPs like herself are a settler class there. She should change her own name to an Indiginous or even Spanish one so as to make it easier for the “natives” to deal with.

And I doubt Brown is interested in helping Asian American immigrants to vote.

The voter ID issue in general is being used a political cover to racially and ethnically cleanse registration lists of minority voters–much as USA did to African Americans and others in recent elections.

An Election Spoiled Rotten
http://dissidentvoice.org/Nov2004/Palast1102.htm

In fact, Democratic Party leaders like Boyd Richie have specifically accused Brown and Texas Republicans of “trying to suppress votes with a partisan identification bill” in this instance as well.

Posted 11 Apr 2009 at 11:36 am ¶
Kai wrote:

I would actually remind folks that the Betty Browns of the world aren’t just ignorant or confused; I mean, on the surface, they are that, clearly; but this whole business about languages and changing names really needs to be understood as a phony idea. Betty Brown is not making a real proposal here; it’s misdirection and obfuscation to her real purpose, which is to actively prevent POC votes from being counted, a US practice with long and distinguished history. If additional burden of identification and problems with transliteration get in the way of Asian American votes? Oh, how unfortunate! let’s see what we can do about that! Not. It’s unconstitutional and in clear violation of the Voting Rights Act but hey some laws are more equal than others.

With the demographic changes sweeping the US, right-wingers will do whatever they gotta do to hold on to any electoral advantage they can muster. Betty Brown’s racist buffoonery is simply a small, assinine, almost droll example of a larger and insidious problem which disenfranchises communities of color all across the country.

Posted 11 Apr 2009 at 11:37 am ¶
Alisa Costa wrote:

Come on. It is my understanding that most, if not, all Chinese surnames are single syllables. Please correct me if I’m wrong. How difficult is that?

Different is scary. I get it. But you’re a frickin elected official. Suck it up.

I hope she saw that clip and is horribly embarrassed. If she still doesn’t get it, she needs to find a new job that doesn’t challenge her so much.

Posted 11 Apr 2009 at 12:18 pm ¶
The First Carol wrote:

1. Get your Betty-Brown-Approved-Name here.

2. Throw that Texan into the well after Tikki Tikki Tembo.

3. Texas style, ‘drive friendly’ away.

4. Pray there’s only one of her.

@Luscious Librarian : well written.

Posted 11 Apr 2009 at 12:52 pm ¶
atlasien wrote:

I agree with Kai. I think we’re going to see more efforts at voter disenfranchisement aimed at Asian-Americans.

Before, I think Asian-Americans weren’t really a big presence on the Republican radar screen of threats. But after the latest election, when Asian-Americans decisively broke for Obama, we’re going to have a much higher profile… and there will be more veiled attempts to disenfranchise Asian-American votes.

Posted 11 Apr 2009 at 12:55 pm ¶
Colin B wrote:

It is on the news in Austin, at least on the KXAN Youtube channel, which usually means it’s on the site as well, which means it’s somewhat likely to be on TV.

This motherfarkin’ lady is dumb. It’s transparent that she’s not worried about making sure people like Ko can VOTE, it’s about mocking, then oppressing people of color who EXTREMELY OFTEN vote against her political interests. I mean come on! You want to make Asian-Americans, hereby all known as “Chinese”, to change their names the same way you want non-Chinese Asians to change their heritage?

Think about it. Similar to what Kai and probably others have said, this is an obvious bait-and-switch. Here, just change your name for us and it’ll be all good. Then, wait for it, down comes the hammer of voter suppression! Your new name on the Voter ID and your name from this time long ago in the past or your passport or whatever don’t match. Too bad, so sad, sucker. This lady is such crap.

Posted 11 Apr 2009 at 1:29 pm ¶
Singlutionary wrote:

Poor Betty Brown. She is from Athens, TX. And her name is BETTY BROWN. She has most likely, met only 5 asian people in her whole life. She most likely asks the waiter at the sushi restaurant if they know how to properly pronounce “feng shui” and what it is all about. If she even has a Sushi restaurant in Athens.

I can’t be angry with Betty Brown because I know where Athens, TX is and she is simply underexposed. Your polite letters to Ms. Brown will certainly help to educate her on asian-ness in general. It might be the most contact she has had with the Asian AMERICAN community in her entire life.

Posted 11 Apr 2009 at 1:29 pm ¶
Fiqah wrote:

@Clara – thank you for that link. Heads-up, to anybody else who clicks on the link: the Google “related subject” ads are terrible. I know Racialicious covered this some time back, but I am still floored by the fuckery.

Posted 11 Apr 2009 at 1:34 pm ¶
somedude wrote:

Reminds me of this sketch from Goodness Gracious Me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ0JYDbC3DY&feature=related

Posted 11 Apr 2009 at 4:23 pm ¶
Nina wrote:

I’m just failing to grasp the reason to Browns concerns, actually. Does she honestly believe poll workers have to be able to correcly pronounce every name on the ballots when checking for fraud? A person can not just show up with her ballot saying that her name is, oh I don’t know, Éloïse Boulanger and get it referenced and cleared with some other ID or registration?

I’m not getting it.

Posted 11 Apr 2009 at 6:09 pm ¶
O. Zbyshevichski wrote:

I’ll never forget the year that the Nanticoke, Pennsylvania High School Girls Basketball team made the national playoffs. Everyone in northeastern PA is familiar with the 8 or 10 syllable middle-European names (some extremely lacking in vowels!) and don’t give them second thoughts. But the national ESPN sportscasters were a real hoot trying to describe the gameplay. Apart from their tongue-twisting mispronunciations, they took so long to say the players’ names that at times they actually fell several plays behind the action!

I think Betty Brown needs to get out more. A person’s name isn’t negotiable (including the right to keep one’s own name at marriage).

Posted 11 Apr 2009 at 9:53 pm ¶
JC wrote:

This story struck a cord. It’s obviously her comments were out of complete ignorance and possible racist intent, the real purpose was probably voter suppression. Little does she know that many AA are conservative and would vote Republican, and that she might be alienating her own voters. For me, the issue of name change is a little personal.

While changing last name is out of the question, many AA often change their first name, especially first gen immigrants who grew up here. I did that too.. I get to pick my own “American” name. I did it because my Chinese name had the word “Chun”. It was supposed to pronounced like “June”, everyone of course say it like “Chong” as in “Ching Chong” and Cheech and Chong”. Yeah I heard a lot of that most unoriginal way of mocking Asians a million times. Perhaps sick of hearing it, I really wanted to use an Western first name instead; so when a neighbor Korean girl started to call me by my currently official first name “because I looked like one”, I quickly adopted and tell people that’s was my name. The insults did decrease but I also became subconsciously ashamed of my real first name. It was linked to ridicule and alienation. There was even a brief moment in my youth where I picked a white last name (Scottish, in fact) when writing to people who never saw me. Thank goodness I quickly grew out of that phase, but the white first name stuck, like millions of other Asian Americans. I’m not proud of it, but I consider one of the sacrifices I had to make in order to survive in this racist society.

Posted 11 Apr 2009 at 10:54 pm ¶
waxghost wrote:

This is especially funny when you consider how many of the names white Americans use are actually derived from Middle Eastern names. My (unusual) real name is derived from a location in the Bible. I have cousins with names like Jedidiah and Jeremiah. And yet no one ever (even in the midst of the Islamophobic and Middle Eastern-phobic panics of the past decade) found it hard to pronounce our names or tried to get us to change them to “more American” names.

But I’ve found that those who have the hardest time saying someone’s supposedly-difficult name often have the least respect for other people who aren’t exactly like them.

Posted 12 Apr 2009 at 1:30 am ¶
beka wrote:

Alisa Costa:
Come on. It is my understanding that most, if not, all Chinese surnames are single syllables. Please correct me if I’m wrong. How difficult is that?

Chinese surnames are mostly one-syllable, though there exist two-syllable surnames, e.g. Zhuge or Situ. These are quite rare.

The given name itself is two syllables (traditionally generation name-given name, or the reverse for girls, on occasion; but nowadays this is not so strictly adhered to) or, mostly on the part of those from the PRC, sometimes only a single syllable.

No, not very difficult. Honest.

Posted 12 Apr 2009 at 7:59 am ¶
kiran wrote:

As an Indian I totally understand the racism here.

My friend was also victim of racism. His name was also distorted at work apart from other racism. But he never agreed to racism even at the cost of his job. Read his incident on url. Very inspiring.

Posted 12 Apr 2009 at 9:10 am ¶
Miles Ellison wrote:

Is this another example of the much ballyhooed post racial tolerance I’ve been reading about? Looks a lot like the same old bigotry to me.

Posted 12 Apr 2009 at 12:43 pm ¶
CK Liu wrote:

I understand Texas is sort of “Red” but this is way too much coming from a state Rep..
Maybe she should change her name to Petty White instead of Brown.

Posted 12 Apr 2009 at 4:11 pm ¶
CK Liu wrote:

What kind of stupid person is she???

Posted 12 Apr 2009 at 4:13 pm ¶
Bagelsan wrote:

Don’t we already know the word ’sun’? And what does ‘moi’ look like it might sound? “Moy”?

I woulda maybe tried the French way… :p But I probably wouldn’t have then panicked when I got it wrong and demanded that you change it, either.

(Just curious, but is this sort of English-centrism less of a problem among non-white English-speaking Americans? Do African-Americans try to pull this shit less or are we just focusing on the “whiteness” of English-centrism due to this lady being basically transparent? Or is it just that we want to include the power dynamic of it along with the ignorance?)

Posted 12 Apr 2009 at 5:18 pm ¶
Bagelsan wrote:

I’m definitely laughing about her being too ignorant to even pick a realistic Asian-name-complaint. How about Vietnamese-Americans — they have 3ish names (le gasp!) Or Japanese-Americans who can easily have 3ish syllables (double le gasp!) Or South Asians, who can have about half a *dozen* syllables… (GASP.)

Frankly I just think everyone in the world should be named Sarah Muhammad Li and be done with it. Problem solved. (Dudes too.)

Posted 12 Apr 2009 at 5:23 pm ¶
Medusa wrote:

Yeah, this is ridiculous. What a stupid, intolerant woman. Now, I’m Ghanaian, but i have a Japanese middle name, so would she want me to change that? Or does it only apply to people who are biologically Asian? WTFFFFFFFFFFF??????!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted 12 Apr 2009 at 8:56 pm ¶
Chả giò Joe wrote:

I’m only half-Vietnamese (raised by my immigrant mother, spent most of my early childhood in the Philippines), so I don’t know how much Asian-cred that give me, but here goes: I think Ms. Brown’s getting a bad rap (mainly because I think her meaning is being misinterpreted). Were she suggesting that Asian immigrants adopt Anglicized names, I’d reject such a suggestion unreservedly. But that’s not what she suggested, and went out of her way to say so: “I’m not talking about changing your name–I’m talking about transliteration…”. She made this clear during the hearing and subsequently.

Some Chinese-Americans experienced challenges at the polling stations because the namnes on their IDs did not match the names on their naturalization papers. Ms. Brown was simply suggesting that names/transliterations be consistent from document to document, not that they should be anglicized.

The inconsistencies were generally due to one of two things:

a) The most common issue was, ironically enough, that it was the adopted americanized names on voters’ documents (driver’s license, for example) which didn’t match their naturalization papers. For example, a Vietnamese person might be naturalized as Hoai Nguyen, but have Bobby Wynn on his Driver’s license. In such a case, Ms. Brown’s proposed solution would be to use his Vietnamese, not americanized name on his driver’s license.

b) Some people choose to transliterate their names differently on various documents. For example, someone’s naturalized name might be Yi Seung-man, but he may transliterate it Syngnman Rhee on one document, and Singman Ri on another. All three are equivalent transliterations of the same name.

Ms. Brown made it clear she was not suggesting that Chinese voters change their true Chinese name–just that that they alter how they transliterate it when it’s inconsistent with the transliteration on another document.

Regarding her statement, “Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?”: she was referring to the linguistic knowledge pollworkers would need to discern, for example, that Yi Seung-man and Syngman Rhee represented the same name (this is actually a Korean name, but the point stands). She was not suggesting that Syngman choose a less ching-chongy name.

She asked Mr. Ko, “do you have any suggestion for us, something that would help the Chinese community, that would be easier on you?”, and it was he who then asked her to address the challenges presented by nominal inconsistencies at polling stations. Watching the video, I found Ms. Brown perfectly reasonable, even if I ultimately believe there’s a better solution. She wasn’t argumentative or on some tirade–she was civil and courteous, addressing an issue at Mr. Ko’s request.

It’s common for naturalized citizens to eventually adopt “Western” names for common use (my naturalized cousin goes by “Bobby”), and it is a sad irony that such an attempt at assimilation, so often insisted upon by white Americans, would then be the very thing to hinder their ability to vote. I suggest that naturalized citizens in Texas be allowed to use “americanized” or re-transliterated names on documents such as their driver’s license, with their naturalized name printed secondarily somewhere on the document.

Certainly one is free to disagree with this suggestion as well, but we should at least understand what it is with which we’re disagreeing. Anti-Asian bigotry and xenophobia, both subtle and not-so-subtle, are alive and well in the U.S. (I’ve been called “half-Vietnamese, half-American” more times than I care to count), but reactionary strawman-punching only undermines the helpful sympathies we’d like to create.

Posted 13 Apr 2009 at 5:13 am ¶
Chả giò Joe wrote:

Regarding the initial post:

Latoya said: “Issue One: Problem was, most of these people were already using two names:”

Ms. Brown wasn’t suggesting people take on a second name, she was suggesting simply that the name on all documents match each other. If anything, Ms. Brown would prefer for people to simply always use the name on their naturalization documents.

Latoya said: “Issue Two: Ko, brought up people of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean descent. They all got lumped into “Chinese” when she gave her answer.”

Mr. Ko brought up other ethnicities as an aside, simply to help explain the concept of transliteration. But he was there as a representative of Chinese-Americans specifically, so that’s whom Ms. Brown addressed regarding the problems at the polling station.

I’m don’t know Ms. Brown, so I’m not saying she’s a saint, but I do think, respectfully, that her statements are being terribly misinterpreted and taken out of context.

Posted 13 Apr 2009 at 5:36 am ¶
Erica wrote:

@Chả giò Joe — I would consider that a possibility if she hadn’t added, “if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with”. (The sheer ignorance of the last part that baffles me, since only Americans vote in American elections — I expect elected officials to know such basic civics.)

I agree it makes sense for documentation to be consistent across all identifying documents. However, the problem of inconsistent names on legal documents is not unique to Asian names, or even unique to languages that require transliteration. (”Joe the Plumber” had an error in his voter registration.) Instead of concentrating on how discrepancies can be avoided in the first place, or resolved when they inevitably occur, Ms. Brown complained about Chinese being a difficult language — that’s when she framed the issue as somehow unique to the Asian-American community, and started to sound like an ignorant bigot rather than an elected official interesting in resolving a community problem.

Posted 13 Apr 2009 at 11:53 am ¶
Colin B wrote:

@Chả giò Joe: Are you avocadojoe on youtube?

Rep. Brown was pretty clearing saying Asian-Americans should change how they say their name, at least to the government, so that it’s easier for Americans to deal with. She was saying it’s easier to do her proposed solution than to “everyone here having to learn Chinese”, implying to me at least that the proposed name she would give would’ve been something more Anglo-Saxonish.

Also, what do you say about the repeated implications that Asian-Americans are not American citizens? There are numerous comments to that effect already, so look throughout the thread and at the post itself if you want to see what I mean.

Posted 13 Apr 2009 at 12:46 pm ¶
NancyP wrote:

What’s the problem, BB? How hard is it to mispronounce someone’s name? If you can mispronounce an Italian or German name, it shouldn’t be much more difficult to mispronounce a Vietnamese, Turkish, or Bosnian name. Just Do It, and do it with a SMILE – you will be forgiven for your pronunciation gaffe as long as you seem sincere.

Posted 13 Apr 2009 at 11:30 pm ¶
Restructure! wrote:

Issue #5: Brown asks Ko if “Chinese” people or Asian Americans could adopt a transliterated name instead of everyone else “learning Chinese”. But Asian Americans have to be registered with transliterated names, not Chinese characters. It is impossible that Asian Americans’ American ID documents are written in Chinese, Korean, or Japanese characters; their names are already transliterated. It’s as if she reads the name “Ko” and thinks that “Ko” isn’t already transliterated. Of course “Ko” is already transliterated, as it’s in Roman characters, not Chinese, Korean, or Japanese characters.

Also, transliterated names are the problem with identity confusion. If the United States accepted documents in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, then there wouldn’t be the discrepancies.

I like how the multiple-kinds-of-wrong are emphasized in this post. I find that racism is usually this kind of wrong.

Posted 14 Apr 2009 at 2:45 am ¶
Restructure! wrote:

I am so angry.

Perhaps you guys (commenters) don’t see the blatant absurdity of what she is suggesting, if you are not familiar with what transliteration means. For example, the transliteration of 章子怡 is “Zhang, Ziyi”. So Brown is suggesting that “Zhang, Ziyi” should be transliterated to make it easier for Americans. But “Zhang, Ziyi” is already the transliteration of 章子怡, so how can you apply another transliteration to a name that is already transliterated?! Gah! It’s as if she sees “Zhang, Ziyi” and thinks, “I can’t read Chinese. Could you transliterate it into English characters?”

And transliteration is the problem. If Chinese, Korean, or Japanese characters could be used, there wouldn’t be all those inconsistencies!

East Asian American immigrants, in their typical way, bend over backward to accommodate Anglo Americans by transliterating their Asian names into English characters and adopting an “English” name for Anglo Americans’ convenience, and then problems arise because of it, and then people like Brown suggest that to fix the problem, they should transliterate their names and adopt an “English” name for Anglo Americans’ convenience!

FAIL. FAIL. FAIL.

Posted 14 Apr 2009 at 3:13 am ¶
Jess wrote:

@Restructure!

Deep breath, man.

The issue here isn’t transliteration, per se, it’s disenfranchisement.

If you get married for instance (and adopt the hubby’s name) your voter registration document will be different from the one on your SS card and probably even your driver’s license, depending on how on the ball you were (most people wait until their licenses expire, which can be years — the DMV is as much fun as a dental appointment and nobody likes the hassle).

Then there’s changing your passport (another hassle). Or having to carry around your marriage certificate.

It isn’t unique to the Asian community. When Russians naturalize here, or some Latinos (or people from countries with Spanish/Portuguese naming practices) you can get all kinds of problems matching stuff up. And god help you if you are Icelandic. Your kids’ last names will differ from yours — the potential nightmares with various bureaucracies are endless.

And requiring a ton of ID at the polling stations is designed to go after people who are less likely to have many of the kinds of ID or proof of residence that wealthier (and whiter) people tend to have.

It also hurts seniors who are less likely to still have drivers’ licenses — especially in cities like New York.

Getting every document to agree is almost impossible to do. That’s why passing Indiana-style voter ID laws is all kinds of awful. The comments about names that are easier for Americans was stupid. But the underlying issue is much worse than that– it’s about keeping people from voting.

Posted 14 Apr 2009 at 10:39 am ¶
Steven W wrote:

I don’t know. I wasn’t offended by what she said. It sounded to me like she was asking the Asian what should be done, which is quite a ways different from telling him what needed to be done to make white folks’ lives easier.

Posted 14 Apr 2009 at 1:27 pm ¶
Lxy wrote:

Betty Brown’s “suggestions” are about both voter suppression and promoting what has been called Anglo Conformity–the compulsory assimilation of immigrants into the White Anglo-American system.

Whether directed against non-Anglophone European immigrants as in the past or more newly arrived non-Western immigrants, Anglo conformity is tacitly based upon the idea that Anglo-Americans have a moral and political right to demand that immigrants assimilate into their culture.

This demand carefully ignores the reality that Anglo-Americans are not merely immigrants but COLONIZERS whose theft and occupation of First Nations’ land is the ultimate basis of their power.

Secondly, Brown’s suggestions are a thinly disguised pretext for the disenfranchisment or racial cleansing of minority voter registration lists.

This later tactic is, as has been noted, a time-honored American tradition since before the Civil Rights era to this very day.

The 2000 and 2004 “elections” both evidenced significant examples of this type of vote fraud and suppression tactics.

All this in the self-styled Land of the Free.

The Lynching of the Black Vote
http://www.commondreams.org/views/121000-101.htm

Posted 14 Apr 2009 at 6:18 pm ¶
Fran wrote:

It proves that voters do have feelings & react to words spoken. Interpreting, intended or not, words that stings from people in public office whom we have come to expect to be of a finer class, better educated. Too late, the harm has been done.

Posted 14 Apr 2009 at 10:04 pm ¶
Ishtar wrote:

I wonder how Betty Brown would fare in South Africa? 11 Official languages and a mix of Africans, Asians and Europeans.

I’d love to listen to her try to pronounce a name like “Xolile” (with the X being a click) or even Nelson Mandela’s second name – Rohlihlahla.

Posted 15 Apr 2009 at 3:21 am ¶
GallingGalla wrote:

ace – Ramey Ko *is* an american name. get that through your head.

or are you going to demand that my former boss, first name Pio with an equally Italian last name, change his name to Bob Smith?

Posted 16 Apr 2009 at 2:09 pm ¶