Texas lawmaker has a suggestion for Asian-Americans

[Tomiko]

On Tuesday, State Rep. Betty Brown (R) caused a firestorm during House testimony on voter identification legislation when she said that Asian-Americans should change their names because they’re too hard to pronounce:

“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 [Organization of Chinese Americans representative Ramey] 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?”

Yesterday, Brown continued to resist calls to apologize. Her spokesman said that Democrats “want this to just be about race.”

She should have to change her last name cause I can't deal with a white woman calling herself Brown.

I don't see this going anywhere, but it made for an amusing read.

[Serpent]

i lol'd

[Rhinox]

rofl

what the shit. Stereotypical republicans.


edit: loltexas

[Rhinox]

http://www.norvillecenter.org/Betty-Brown-for-web.jpg

[Obev]

Yeah, Lee is such a difficult name to pronounce. I mean like, compared to a good 'MERICAN name like Limbaugh.

[Beckwin]

LOLGOP

[Elvis]

[Kiro]

Texaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas.~

[Devek]

We used to do that sort of thing...

I'm not going to say what my last name is, but it was changed when my grandfather came to America. It sounds kind of the same but the spelling is totally different and easy now.

[noblemountain]

exactly...this isn't that much of a stretch considering america used to do this during this woman's lifetime. lol

when i was adopted, my adopted parents changed my entire name. my father is german and my mother is mongolian...so you can imagine what my name was like. i only know my real name because i found the adoption papers when i was 7 or so.

[Ferien]

We used to do that sort of thing...

I'm not going to say what my last name is, but it was changed when my grandfather came to America. It sounds kind of the same but the spelling is totally different and easy now.

At least one of my great-grandparents had their name changed as well. Apparently I-talians all have unpronounceable names. Things were different back then though, before the wars, America was still very isolationist, and often the immigrants who would come through Ellis Island didn't have any kind of proper ID on them anyway, so spelling was at the whim of the immigration officials.

[0ni0n]

Brown continued to resist calls to apologize. Her spokesman said that Democrats “want this to just be about race.”

Tell me how this is not racist. I have seen polish and greek last names that have more than 3 vowels and 5+ vowels full name. Stories like this are the reason it's so hard to take Texas seriously. I think some sort of IQ and ethnicity sensitivity test for all politicians is in order.

[MaachaQ]

At least one of my great-grandparents had their name changed as well. Apparently I-talians all have unpronounceable names. Things were different back then though, before the wars, America was still very isolationist, and often the immigrants who would come through Ellis Island didn't have any kind of proper ID on them anyway, so spelling was at the whim of the immigration officials.

I believe it was my great grandfather who changed his last name on immigrating, but not because it was hard to pronounce. It was because there were over a dozen men there at the same time with the same first and last name and he wanted to be sure he wouldn't get mixed up with them. I don't remember the original family name right off hand, Johnson I think. He just made up a name right there and so our family was unique from then on.

[Aerin]

Yeah, Lee is such a difficult name to pronounce. I mean like, compared to a good 'MERICAN name like Limbaugh.

I really want to know how many hard to pronounce Chinese names this woman has come across. Usually they're only 1 or 2 syllables. Japanese names are a lot longer, not sure about others.

But who am I kidding, we're all Chinese. Right?

[thatwasnifty]

If people of Chinese descent really want to be taken seriously as Americans, then they should get plastic surgery to open their eyes wider.

[fantasticdan]

At least one of my great-grandparents had their name changed as well. Apparently I-talians all have unpronounceable names. Things were different back then though, before the wars, America was still very isolationist, and often the immigrants who would come through Ellis Island didn't have any kind of proper ID on them anyway, so spelling was at the whim of the immigration officials.

My italian grandpas last name was changed when he came over as well. I'm not sure how exactly he/they picked a new name, but he (and consequently me), ended up with a german last name, lol...

[Suited Aces]

Texas lawmaker suggests Asians adopt easier names | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

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.

She has a point.. kinda.

A lady that's on my payroll filled out her name on her W-9 as Elizabeth* and everyone her at work refers to her as Elizabeth. So when we sent out her 1099 this year, it had Elizabeth written on it because that's all we know her as.

So a few weeks after she gets her 1099 she calls up and tells me her real first name is Phung* and that her 1099 needed to reflect that for the purposes of of filing taxes. So i went back through her file and sure enough her drivers S.S. card said Phung on it. It was a pain in the ass to correct it with the IRS because we had already filed it with the incorrect name of Elizabeth.

This is the kind of situation Ms. Ko is referring to in the above quote. I guess alot of people use an english sounding name when their legal name is odd or hard to pronounce. And this will certainly cause confusion for taxes or voting purposes. I guess that's kinda the opposite of what the lawmaker is saying though. idk.








* names changed just because.

[0ni0n]

Texas lawmaker suggests Asians adopt easier names | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle




She has a point.. kinda.

A lady that's on my payroll filled out her name on her W-9 as Elizabeth* and everyone her at work refers to her as Elizabeth. So when we sent out her 1099 this year, it had Elizabeth written on it because that's all we know her as.

So a few weeks after she gets her 1099 she calls up and tells me her real first name is Phung* and that her 1099 needed to reflect that for the purposes of of filing taxes. So i went back through her file and sure enough her drivers S.S. card said Phung on it. It was a pain in the ass to correct it with the IRS because we had already filed it with the incorrect name of Elizabeth.

This is the kind of situation Ms. Ko is referring to in the above quote. I guess alot of people use an english sounding name when their legal name is odd or hard to pronounce. And this will certainly cause confusion for taxes or voting purposes. I guess that's kinda the opposite of what the lawmaker is saying though. idk.








* names changed just because.

It's different if it's done by choice for the sake of expedience. This is not something that an elected official should ever say. On the list of things that are politically incorrect, this is pretty high up. What's next? Black and brown people should bleach their skins because white people find them such an eye sore to look at?

[Dimmauk]

The first Asian I see, I will rename them "Toby"

[Maxxthepenguin]

how the hell did this country elect a guy named Barack Obama?