Will a ‘Black’ Name Brand My Son With Mug Shots Before He’s Even Born?

you don't show up for a (respectable) job interview in shorts do you? That has no reflection on the fact that you may be very highly qualified/educated.


Noone names their child Adolph Hitler anymore do they? Why not? Possibly because there is a bad connotation associated with that name? Does that mean that a man named Adolph hitler living in 2013, is a mass murderer? Nope.... but the name is going to cause problems for the person.

Even to a less extreme....
Ask anyone who has the same name as a movie star. Ask them the trouble they have to go through when trying to make reservations, or order a pizza.

The idea that "it shouldn't matter" is not a bad thought.,.... but it just isn't ever going to happen. History has shown it time and time again.

so, in the meantime, while not condoning any of it, I'm still going to teach my kids to dress up for interviews, I'm not going to give them stripper names, or names of evil dictators.... and I'm not naming any child I have "LaShaun" or "Shaniqua"

If you do... that's your perogative.... and just makes it that much easier for my boy "John" when looking for jobs.

 

Like my Grandpa used to say...."strive for perfection, but be willing to settle for progress" He also used to say "unrealistic expectations are resentments waiting to happen"

Perhaps Grandpa might have found merit to both of our viewpoints

 

I live in Northern California, and I did show up for my last interview wearing a t-shirt and jeans.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-Hitler-dad-time-hoping-little-Eva-Braun.html......check this out.

None of that is unreasonable

 

I like your grandpa. He sounds like somebody that cared and somebody that worked. We could use a few more of those.

 

It's also one thing to have grownups fight for acceptance and another to use a kid as a pawn for said cause. That's the issue, and it would be the same issue if it were ebonics, facial tattoos or names. It's fine if you come to the conclusion that you yourself shouldn't be judged for those things, and behave as though they don't matter because they shouldn't. It's another to saddle a kid with that, the kid doesn't get a vote. If Keian in 20 years is unemployed because his resume ends up in the circular file, that's something he's going to resent his parents for -- hobbling him FOR LIFE with a name that means less job security and less income. If you don't even give your kids the option (my solution would be to make the ethnic name the middle name) then you're putting your own narcissism ahead of your child.

 

and I did say there are always exceptions....

there is so much fail in that story, not to mention the 130# nazi trying to wear a uniform made for a 180# man..... But my point remains.... Little Adolph Hitler there, is now saddled with a name that is going to cause him problems in his adult life.

then what's the issue you have?


SHOULD it happen? No
Does it happen? Yes
Will it continue to happen? yes.

 

Absolutely. WWI vet, Kansas farmer, beloved father of 4 farm girls during the dust bowl, and a respected man of faith.

They DO NOT make em' like that anymore

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My only point is it shouldn't happen, but there are people on this thread who imply it SHOULD happen if you name your kid "black" names.

Apparently you're not one of them

As for it continuing to happen...not everywhere. It doesn't happen at any companies I've ever worked for in California, that I know of...but when I lived in Washington state, and worked for smaller companies, it did happen sometimes. So......it is what it is.

 

I came into this thread late, but since my arrival in it, I have not seen people saying it should happen, only that it does. But, if I'm mistaken, tell me a post # and I'll go back.

I don't think it SHOULD happen.... but knowing that it does happen, right or wrong, why would I knowingly put my child into a position that this could affect him negatively in the future, in a big way. Especially when it's so easy to avoid. Especially when they have no say in their name selections.


it's one thing if you don't dress for an interview.... the adult has a choice in conforming with that stereotype or not.

 

My mother slept on the kitchen table as a child. No running water, no bathroom etc. She was 3-1/2 years old when her father had a day off. He worked 7 days a week 365 days a year during the depression. People just don't know.
My other grandfather loaded dump trucks with a shovel while other men stood around to literally take his place if he stopped. Peoples definition of work and hardship is laughable today and an insult to those that know that it actually endured it.
When your children work in the fields all day along side you and you're still broke and sleeping in the barn, then you are poor.
If you're sleeping on the couch in the A/C with a fridge full of government pizzas, pesto, goat cheese and the USC vs. Alabama game on the tube then no, youre not poor. Youre just a wanna-be broke SOB.
There is not in these United States a single example of an able bodied and able minded man that is poor as defined by the history of the human condition. It is not possible to be poor while talking on a cell phone with a data plan.

 

I went to school with a girl named "Cheyenne". She seemed to be doing fine...last I heard, got a scholarship to UConn.

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I would try either "Bea" or "Jackie". I'm almost afraid to ask what her middle name was.

 

I have only ever met one Adolph. He wasn't German...he was from St. Maarten, which would make him, technically, Dutch.

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You misspelled it!

 

Nothing wrong with the name Cheyenne since it's the proper spelling of the word.

I have a problem with the name CheyAnne.

Not a big deal... just too cutesy for my taste.

 

I honestly wonder if it was a typo. Wouldn't be the first...like Elvis Aron Presley.

 

an Orel Hershiser sounds like something a drunk college dorm would do to the first one who passed out.

 

I think most of us agree on that point. I'm not saying that people should be putting odd-named resumes in the garbage, but I don't think it should be ignored. There are all kinds of things that put resumes in circular files. If I as a parent can remove some of them, I think I'd owe it to the child to do those things. If being from Mississippi is going to hurt him, I'll move. If having an Anglo name helps him get to job-hunt second base, then that's what he'll have. If having a given accent is going to hurt him in job interviews, he won't have it. Any parent would do that for their kid.

What I HATE is people who go around acting as though reality doesn't exist. It does. Even if you don't like it, there are some things that should not matter that make all the difference. Ideally, you should be able to get a job in a bank with green hair and a dragon tattoo on you face. You should be able to get a job even if you sound like the people on Duck Dynasty. Reality is that those things will cost you jobs and limit what you can achieve.