Texan politician unable to pronounce Asian names

[JFC]

ORIGINAL ARTICLE (AND USER RESPONSES) = http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/09/brown-asian-names/

Texas lawmaker: Asians should change their names to make them ‘easier for Americans to deal with.’

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.”

No disrespect to Flyp and TDuck and any other HiPsters that originally hail from/live in Texas, but seriously, WTF were you all thinking when you elected this one? 


EDIT: 

[RatBastich]

As much as that woman is a complete and utter fool, its not exactly indicative to think such idiocy is prevalent in just one state, let alone in any one country.

Idiots have always been able to get themselves elected, and tend to always overstay their welcome.
This particular idiot needs to resign, IMHO, because her ideas are not gonna work in this era, unlike in the Civil War era, where she obviously hails from.

[Asmodai]

My ancestors had their names changed when they passed through Ellis Island. It was common practice because of bigotry against the Irish - if you had an English last name, no one could tell.

Not exactly anything new - sad that it persists though.

[shadowstar]

I hope she gets a wok thrown at her face. 

[Slack]

Thank god she's in the Texas state house of representatives and not in Washington.  At least I can take some consolation from the fact that her racist ass isn't influencing politics on a national level.

Looking at her voting district, it may be worth noting that her constituents are less educated, compared to the Texas state average.  Also, 60.3% are in rural areas, compared to the state average of 17.5% (No surprise then that she's in the Agriculture and Livestock Committee).  The percentage of her district that is over 65 is about 5% more than the state average.  All these together just scream at me "redneck conservative country".

So, what does this all mean?  It means that with statements like this, she might just be representing her district pretty accurately...   Scary, huh?  It wouldn't be too surprising to me if she really is so ignorant and tactless that she didn't mean any offense, but to say that this isn't racism is just being disingenuous.  Even so, there's not much point in making a really big deal about this, since she's probably going to be voted in again.

As an Asian myself, I'm not going to waste too much thought on this ignorant old woman.  I'm not surprised at all that these comments came from an old white conservative Texan who probably doesn't know any Asians outside of her work.  I guess I can take some consolation that at least she probably won't be alive in 20 years.

I'd like to end my statement with this quote from the article's comments:

My first girlfriend’s last name was Jaroszenko. The second one was Theodossiades. The third was Li. Tell me which one is easiest to pronounce.

[kosu]

^
^ lol I was planning to quote that too LOL


other interesting quotes

uh yeah im asian and my last name is PARK. AND it is a typical korean last name. so if she cant pronoune that then thats pretty sad

one last thing. our Chinese names ARE IN ENGLISH YOU RETARDED IDIOT… you clearly can’t read chinese as my name isn’t written in chinese characters. neither are any of the names on your voters list, so please explain to me how you’re being forced to learn chinese?

I’m Asian and I think that’s a wonderful idea! I’m officially changing my name to F. Yu Betty Brown

me don't know English ... me can't pronounce her name .... Beh-di Ba-lahng ??

[ichijoujirena]

It's idiotic Republicans like her that give this state such a bad name. This state is still so conservative in the rural areas that it's really easy for people like her to get elected.

I'm sure this woman knows maybe one person with a name that she cannot pronounce and thinks every other Asian is going to have the same type of name.  In San Antonio, our Asian population is mostly Chinese or Vietnamese, and the majority of people I know have SUPER easy names. Hell, A LOT easier to pronounce than my own German name.    

[Tuffty]

I don't understand how people can make comments like that in this day and age and don't expect to be pulled up on it.

[Datalanche]

Sometimes I am embarrassed to live in Texas, but sadly... that's how some people are here. I see this stuff all the time. I live in one of the most conservative places in the country according to voting records, and I am constantly appalled at things I see and hear. When the election was going on, I saw in our email server at work, lots of people passing on those fake emails about how Obama is an Arab and wants to convert the nation to Islam and change the national anthem. Even sadder was the biggest passer on of that stuff was a World History teacher. People like this, screw them. Seriously.

I'm sure I sound like a tard trying to say "Michishige Sayumi", but I'm not going to demand she change her name to Sally Henderson.

[THUNDERDUCK]

I've no idea which part of the state she represents, but I grew up in San Antonio, and the Asian percentage is small as hell.  But in Dallas, it's alot more diverse.  If she checked out the Fredericksburg / hill country area, she'll see that there are alot of whites with difficult names (no offense to those of German heritage).

[shurastriker]

FUGLY!!! is all about laziness isn't it? c'mon is not enough that they actually translate their names to the roman alphabet so people can actually read them?

[JTRIX]

She is a stupid moron bitch... I think it's not even hard to pronounce Chinese people's name if you gonna address them with their last name, because most are Lam, Lee, Li, Chan, etc...

besides, Texan politician are morons!

[Yo Jimbo]

Lol well every race has a bunch of names where ppl who are unfamiliar with the language can't pronounce. It also seems to be the case (in my experience anyway) that the person with the name in question already expects it to be butchered like a hot chick in a slasher flick. They then proceed to teach the correct pronounciation a couple of times and if that doesn't work, they provide (or allow) an easier to pronounce nickname. People are also usually good sports about it too. Mind you this probably only works in casual conversation.