<p>“Thought black people were stealing all the jobs bc Affirmative Action”</p>
<p>Good one, lol :)</p>
<p>I have heard for years that modern day blacks in America that name their child using traditional African style of naming put their child at a disadvantage, not only in spelling, but in later years when it comes to jobs. Adetokunbo and Chiamaka are 2 examples of traditional African names, of course there are many others.
It may be unfair, but if it exists then parents need to be aware.</p>
<p>There have been studies like this in rental housing applications as well (with predictable results).</p>
<p>I don’t think it is a case of being aware of it. But some people may feel that individual expression is a higher value than fitting in.
I know you could say that there are more socially acceptable ways of expressing your creativity, but that misses the point because they want to change what is socially acceptable.
Which is why perhaps that African Americans still have a difficult time in America.</p>
<p>Forgive me if I offend or restate what is already understood.
Other immigrant groups have been sucked into the well established mass of the first immigrant swarm from Europe. ( by which point we (the 1st immigrant swarm) outnumbered the people who were already here & we just moved them out of our way).
But if retaining independence was a more important part of your identity than being typically successful, you wouldn’t want to change who you felt you were in order to fit into someone else’s idea.</p>
<p>Names are only one indicator & most African American families I know do chose names that aren’t unwieldy & want their kids to be successful within society.</p>
<p>But every time someone points out an unfairness, it perhaps makes us a little more aware and so gives a slight change in perspective.
Thats how big change happens. It starts small.</p>
<p>( after which I will segue into Steve Martins well known comedy routine " lets get small" because I just had a revelation about my aspieness & I am enjoying it)
:D</p>
<p>I shoul say though, that if those were the actual names used, I don’t find either one to be evocative of a certain group.</p>
<p>There are always going to be some people that discriminate against others just like there are always going to be some people who THINK they are being discriminated against regardless of whether that is the case or not. </p>
<p>My maiden name screams white, my married name implies I’m Jewish even though my husband and I are Lutheran. When living in Chicago I saw first hand that there are people who do not want to rent or work with Jews. It’s not just blacks that have problems.</p>
<p>So many see it so differently.
When my great grandfather came over on the boat from Ireland(legally) quite some time ago, he changed his name legally from O’houlihan to Holahan. It was his desire to be American, and that is one of the ways he chose to follow that course. His feeling was that- I’m American now.</p>
<p>
This is interesting to me, because I grew up in the South, and never knew that there were white Americans who thought of themselves as “Irish” or “Italian,” etc., until I went to college. I thought people came in black and white, and that’s it. In an odd way, perhaps that shows you that people can forget about classifications that seem impossible to ignore to us now. I think a colorblind society is possible.</p>
<p>I live in NYC and I am not ethnic. It always bothered me as a kid because everyone was either Italian or Irish or Puerto Rican if they weren’t black, and most of the black people I grew up with came up from “down South” and had interesting food, culture and older relatives who were southern and, therefore, exotic. I always call myself the Wonder Bread girl with great envy!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What, no Jewish people?!</p>
<p>I have no objection to those that choose individual expression, to choose something other than the most common “road traveled” for themselves. The example in this thread is a name chosen by the parents can affect the choices avail to their child.
My belief though is that people need to realize that rightly or not, those that choose alternatives in names or other life choices, may get a few doors opened, and a few doors closed that might not have occurred from a more mainstream choice. The name “La’tuwanda” is pleasing to the ear, and in the African tradition, but here in the U.S., it might open or close doors.</p>
<p>
Not in my neighborhood. It was and is very, very Irish, Italian and black.</p>
<p>
Right - then the parents should legally change their own names, but give their kids more mainstream names. I have nothing against people expressing their individuality by tattooing themselves, but don’t tattoo other people. </p>
<p>There is a study showing that people with more normal names have an easier time landing jobs than those with more out-there names, and it’s not a “black” thing, either.</p>
<p>Moving right along: about five years ago, there was a study done that showed that law firms have a huge hiring preference for minorities. Now, that’s one industry and is entry-level hiring, but I just thought I would point it out.</p>
<p>ariesathena, that is true. There is a whole different recruiting track for people of color. However, many law firms have cut back on hiring a lot, so the real numbers are very small.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Bubba Smith? ;)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What makes you think the parents don’t also have ethnic names? This isn’t exactly a new trend. Many of my AA students have names that are stereotypically AA sounding, and so do their parents. Many others of my students have African names, because their parents (and sometimes they themselves) are from Africa.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>And I’m pretty sure that that only ever has applied in so-called “Biglaw” in the first place. There is a vast world out there of smaller law firms that don’t “recruit” in anything resembling the same way – no summer associates, no “first year classes,” and nothing analogous. When they need to fill a position, they fill it.</p>
<p>I think this is BS. </p>
<p>Bianca doesnt sound any ‘whiter’ than Yolanda. And Spivey is sounds like wrestler Dan “Golden Boy” Spivey. </p>
<p>This woman has exactly one data point. And she wouldnt have an article at all if things didnt work out to her disadvantage so she has an incentive to fudge things. She could have made an actual ‘black’ sounding name if she wanted to test things. Its entirely possible that employers are responding to new posts. </p>
<p>These items also smack of a not objective researcher:</p>
<p>" Im almost convinced that White Americans arent suffering from disparaging unemployment rates as their Black counterpart because all the jobs are being saved for other White people."</p>
<p>“She was a twenty-two-year-old Caucasian woman who, like myself, was about to graduate. She was so excited about a job she had just gotten with a well-known sporting franchise. She had no prior work experience and had applied for a clerical position, but was offered a higher post as an executive manager making close to six figures. I was curious to know how shed been able to land such a position. She was candid in telling me that the human resource person whod hired her just liked her and told her that she deserved to be in a higher position. The HR person was also Caucasian.”</p>
<p>The father in the “Curtis” comic strip just raised this point a week or so, telling Curtis that this is why he was named Curtis as opposed to something unusual. This is one of those difficult situations when parents have to decide whether to compromise how things should be for how they actually are.</p>
<p>
I beg to differ. Yolanda is totally an African-American name (or possibly Hispanic). Bianca is less clear one way or the other.</p>
<p>The name thing is kind of baffling since I agree that Bianca White sounds ethnic. Anyway the important message is that racism is alive and well in the work place. There’s no doubt about that.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?</p>