I came across the link to a personal blog of a young woman who wrote a detailed intimate post about being a white woman with a so-called black name. She never says what her name is possibly for security reasons, but for this post's purposes, let's call her Ja'Wa-kah'teemah.
We've talked about extravagant names here before, but the thing that got to me the most in her blog post was the preconceived notioned reactions she would get from people whenever she told them her name over the phone or when they found out her name without ever seeing her. They would just hear her name and let the bullshit flow:
[Daisy Dead Air]
When I did customer service, I worked with mostly black women. And we were supposed to give our names, like good customer service robots: "Thank you for calling blabbity blabbity, I'm _____, how may I help you?"
"WHAT did you say your name was?"
Here it comes.
I always repeated it, obediently. And I often heard lots of illuminating stuff after that. A few:
"Are you a n-gger?"
"Are you black? Give me someone white. I want someone who can find their ass with both hands, no offense."
"Oh, God no."
(to someone else in the room) "Oh guess what, guys? I've got ______ on the phone, and she's gonna -solve- our problem!!!!" (room responds with hoots, hollers, boos, laughter, etc.)
"Give me someone white, and don't argue with me about it, just do it." (On these calls, I very much enjoyed getting the black supervisor with the British accent on the line; we both enjoyed putting one over on them. But I always made sure to tell the supervisor what was up.)
In other cases, I dug my heels in. Fuck you, I thought.
In short, on the phone, when assumed to be black, I reacted that way. When asked point-black if I was black, I wouldn't tell. "Why?" I'd ask.
"Because I need to get someone who KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING," they'd reply, screaming. They would wait a half-hour for a supervisor they believed was white, before they'd let me deal with their situation, as I could have done in 5 minutes or less.
They made all sorts of assumptions when I wouldn't tell. "Most white people don't want to be mistaken for black," said one woman authoritatively, "so I think you're black, but you don't sound like it." Obviously, she thought this was a high compliment.
"You never know," I said.
~*~
:: At a retail location, a white male sales rep asked who was purchasing the books for a display, which was my job: _______ is, he was told. He blanched, shook his head adamantly and had something of a fit. He needed someone who knew about READING.
:: Employees are attending a seminar and a list of attendees' names given over the phone, to reserve seating . Wait, WHAT'S that name, again, who? "Has she finished high school?" (Everyone must finish high school to have the job in the first place, so why this question?)
:: "That's the worst name I ever heard, unless you're black, and you ain't!"
:: "Did your mom expect you to be black, or wasn't she sure who your daddy was?"
:: Lots of canceled dates, due to my name. Lots of changed invitations. And these were (white) guys my friends wanted me to meet, fellas they assured me were nice. I would invariably hear that the guy snorted derisively and/or initially freaked out: "I'm not going out with ______!!!" --until informed that I was blond and pale. Then he would.
But then, I wouldn't.
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Now you know my name is Tamika and I think we can all agree that it is a decidedly negrodian name, but I must say that I have never, ever come across experiencing anything close to the what this young lady has gone through because of that fact. I honestly wouldn't know how I'd react, but it probably wouldn't be a pretty scene. I have had a few older white women tell me that my name is "exotic"...LOL...although "Tamika" is quite common.
It's a trip when people complain about "black" names are just made up names. That is just code for "too niggery". Newsflash: all names are made up, but they can all hold meaning in one way or the other. It seems as if we as people (some of us more than others) will find any way to take shortcuts on doing the human thing and getting to know someone and would rather make up their own short-sided minds about a person's worth through analyzing the neighborhood the live, the school they attend, the clothes they can afford or the name bestowed upon them.
I say all of this to ask: Have you been discriminated against because of your name? And how do those people treat you when they're shocked into knowing that you have a damn brain?
Do people try to profile you whenever they find out your common or uncommon name? How do you feel about "black" names? Do some people take it too far? Do our children have to have Anglo names to even have a chance at being accepted in these "progressive" United States?
Think about it and get back to me.
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