<p>Old BF had many, many Taiwanese friends in grad school. He was Jewish and had grown up in the Bronx before moving to LA and then grad school. His room mate was Chinese and had a Chinese name. Several of his friends had taken American names. One chose “Adolph.” The rest chose other names. Don’t know if they were discriminated against but do believe they all finished grad school & got jobs (though I did lose touch with all of them).</p>
<p>I have a girlfriend who is Jewish (with a very Jewish last name) who married an Asian man whose last name is Li. Her first name with the last name Li sounds like she’s a Southern belle straight off the plantation, if you didn’t realize that it was Li instead of Lee.</p>
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<p>Slopski is just as “American” a name as “Sloan.” </p>
<p>I have to spell and pronounce my name every single time I give it. Yet I chose to keep it.</p>
<p>Call me an idealist. :)</p>
<p>Although neo-nazis can be dangerous terrorists, there are not very many of them, and their political influence is miniscule in the US.</p>
<p>Much more bothersome, from a point of view of how many people can be affected*, is that politicians can gain substantial political support by loudly opposing the construction of a minority religion’s community center and house of worship (e.g. [Park</a> 51](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park51_controversy]Park”>Park51 - Wikipedia)), or proposing laws that allow racial profiling (e.g. the original draft of [Arizona</a> SB 1070](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SB_1070]Arizona”>Arizona SB 1070 - Wikipedia); subsequent revisions disallowed racial profiling, although the Supreme Court, in upholding the relevant part of the law, expressed some reservations on how strictly that would be followed).</p>
<p>*And how the manipulation of the power of the government can ultimately be far more dangerous than the terrorist acts from a few almost-universally despised neo-nazis.</p>
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<p>That’s not what the tour guides at Ellis Island said when I toured the site with some friends back in the mid '00s. In fact, it was mentioned that many family names were changed due to transliteration errors or expediency for the convenience of immigration agents…especially if the immigrants happened to be Eastern/Southern European or just as foreign from the then American mainstream. </p>
<p>This was definitely the case at Angel Island where many Asians immigrants were processed. I know of a few older friends whose grandparents had Western names imposed upon them by immigration agents…even when their last names were easily transliterated like Li/Lee. </p>
<p>Some of those imposed western names are the same ones shared by Presidents portrayed on various denominations of US currency (i.e. Washington, Jackson, etc). </p>
<p>And if you’re wondering why they don’t change their names back…for anyone other than a newly married woman…name changes can be a huge bureaucratic, legal, and financial hassle. Especially for immigrant families who don’t have the time, legal knowledge, social capital, or finances to do so.</p>
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<p>I personally view them as interrelated as they are all manifestations of an increasingly public displays of latent hatred and racist attitudes among many who feel their “majority status” is increasingly being undermined. This also includes anger at how expression of such attitudes has increasingly been less socially acceptable and worse…opens them up to public criticism and even boycotts by those who are exercising their own free speech rights to express their disapproval. </p>
<p>Just witness the reactions of conservatives who feel their free speech rights are violated when someone conducts boycotts/protests against Chik-Fil-A, Rush Limbaugh, etc. </p>
<p>Not only do they not seem to realize that boycotts/publicly being called out is also free speech exercised by those who disapprove…but also makes me wonder as to how much they actually support their much vaunted free market. After all, no business is entitled to customer patronage…especially if their actions/speech happens to offend some/all of their current/potential customers.</p>
<p>In fact, some of the criticisms of boycotts I kept hearing sounds very similar to the very “socialistic mentality” they usually strongly disapprove of. :D</p>
<p>Well, guess what, cobrat? It’s still a myth. Call up Ellis Island right now and ask them. Check snopes. Check Ancestry.com. Check the Ellis Island website. Check genealogy.com. Check any reputable genealogy source. They all agree that this is a myth, that passenger manifests were created in the old country and just checked off here. BTW, the tour guides at Ellis Island are specifically trained to address this myth, so I’m guessing that you must have misheard. </p>
<p>As for Asian names, that may well be different - I don’t know. But for those with mostlly European ancestry arriving through Ellis Island or similar ports (such as Phila or Balto), names weren’t “changed by xenophobic officers.”</p>
<p>I have friends with names that are dissimilar from my own Northern European heritage. I admit that some of their names were hard for me to remember how to spell:o, but I learned eventually. Names are hard for me, I couldn’t remember my husbands last name after I met him for weeks! But you can’t expect someone to learn if you don’t give them a chance.</p>
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My words were “rampant employment racism against Asians” and IMO, that’s a ridiculous assertion. Note the keyword “rampant” which seems to be what the OP asserted since ‘she’ was suggesting taking a fairly extreme action to counter-act her perception.</p>
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I suppose some companies might have a completely incompetent HR director making assumptions based on something like a name, in which case they should fire themselves, but I don’t think it’s ‘rampant’ or probably even very common. Anyone with a modicum of experience in the business world and with hiring employees knows that one can’t make great assumptions based on such a simple attribute as a name. The assumptions are easily enough determined objectively (by asking directly if they’re entitled to work and by speaking with them and seeing examples of their writing) so there’s no need to make an assumption. The USA is comprised of people who derive from so many ethnic backgrounds that it’d be foolish to to make rash assumptions, one way or the other, based on just the name.</p>
<p>Of course racism and discrimination in the workplace still exists, but Asians are not the only ones who bear the brunt of it, nor do all Asians experience it.</p>
<p>The OP has put himself in the best possible position with that huge chip on his shoulder. If he is hired with his Asian name, he can pat himself on the back for REALLY being superior, as he is convinced that any Asian who achieves anything has done it by working so much harder than anyone else. If he is passed over for a job, he need never worry that the other candidate actually was the more qualified, because he knows he was passed over because he is Asian. If he ever receives an employment evaluation which is less than stellar, he can comfort himself with the fact that it is the unfairness of the system which is to blame. He has completely eliminated the need for introspection, honest assessments of his own strengths and weaknesses, or understanding of others’ talents, because he can always blame the successes of others- as well as his own shortcomings and failures- on racism.</p>
<p>15.8% versus 11.3% definitely suggests “rampant”. Nrdsb4, I am talking about effect size here, and correlation. There are multiple components to hiring, and I didn’t say other traits were taken out of the equation.</p>
<p>Let’s remember that the experiment used fake resumes to submit to companies. In addition to making a lot of other comparisons, they compared “native” versus “Group 1”, which had the exact same qualifications but differed only in their last name. </p>
<p>Remember it’s 15.8% versus 11.3%, not 15.8% and zero. Let’s not use straw man tactics. :)</p>
<p>There is a Seinfeld Episode for every moment</p>
<p>[The</a> Chinese Woman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chinese_Woman]The”>The Chinese Woman - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>My personal favorite “racism” one, is the one where Elaine thinks she is part of an interracial couple. When they find out they are not an interracial couple, they decide they should just go to “The Gap”.</p>
<p><a href=“Seinfeld. Is he black? - YouTube”>Seinfeld. Is he black? - YouTube;
<p>^^ Yes - I mentioned the first one since it involved assumptions based on a perceived Chinese name. I like the interracial one as well. Somehow ‘Seinfeld’ managed to capture almost every walk of life. It’s a great show.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s funny the assumptions that can be made based on name. My husband (and therefore my children) has a name that can in many cases be Jewish but often times is not. It’s just a common German name. Husband has gotten well wishes occasionally during Jewish holidays, mailings from B’Nai Brith,etc. We’re not Jewish but sometimes the assumption has been there that we are. Names really can be misleading , as other examples have shown.</p>
<p>My mother subscribed B’Nai Birth…plain ol’ “slave” name…she was into everything.</p>
<p>Putting aside the OP (who is taking things to a bit of an extreme, IMO) I am a bit more cynical that some of the posters here. I believe that resume “tossing” can and does happen as long as names are visible on a resume and people are in charge of screening them. If asked, recruiters may justify their decisions and truly believe that there was some other reason for the call backs. </p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/26/news/economy/applicant_names/index.htm]Does”>http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/26/news/economy/applicant_names/index.htm]Does</a> the name on your r</p>
<p>I did not read all 15 pages, but Singer is an American sounding name if you decide to make a legal change. </p>
<p>My daughter dates a young Asian man who is the nicest kid I ever met. He swears he is discriminated against. It is hard for milk-toast me to imagine that anyone would not want to hire this very fine young man, but he seems to have a hard time getting hired. Both of them are in college. I don’t know whether it is discrimination or it is just a really tough market right now.</p>
<p>First name Alvy?
;)</p>
<p>Had to Google that one, emeraldkity4; guess you must be feeling better. ;)</p>
<p>I work in a highly diverse, high tech American company with 20K employees, I support sites across the U.S. and regionally there are some variations, in the location I sit, there is a high percentage of Asians, who are obviously recruited and hired actively. Many are first generation Americans, many are on on HB1Visas. Either way, they generally use their own given names. Doesn’t seem to be any issue in my workplace.</p>
<p>Oh, people definitely make immediate assumptions based on names. I have an extremely ethnic name that may be hard to pronounce at a first glance, so it happened multiple times that when someone first saw my name before meeting me in person, after talking for a while, the comment I would get is, “Wow, you have no accent!” or something along the lines of “wow you can speak English properly!” in a tone of astonishment. It’s not hard to imagine what kinds of assumption they made before we met. I honestly wouldn’t want them to be the ones in the position of hiring me.</p>
<p>The OP may be a bit extreme, but sadly I can see where he’s coming from.</p>