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Get A Simpler Name

It would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here

By LIFS May 4, 2009 at 5:51 PM

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A Texas legislator, Rep. Betty Brown (R-Terrell), is advising Asian Americans to change their names to make it “easier for Americans to deal with.”

At a public hearing, Brown told a Chinese community activist, testifying about the difficulties Asian Americans face to vote: “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?”

When Ramey Ko, a representative of the Organization of Chinese Americans, resisted, Brown added: “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?”

After initially rejecting criticism that her comments were racist, Brown has apologized.

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Comments (1 posted)

Frank Griffin July 5, 2009 at 4:49 PM

I think she made a very valid point about difficult names. If someone does not want to change their name simply ignore the advice. She was not ordering people to change their names. This is a non story in my opinion. Someone was super sensitive this morning.