Texas Legisators Want Asian Voters to Change Their Names
6 Responses | Leave a Comment »
I love it! I’ve always wanted to be Bobby McCormick. From The Houston Chronicle:
Lawmaker defends comment on Asians
Call for voters to simplify their names not racially motivated, Terrell Republican says
By R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
April 9, 2009, 11:58AM
AUSTIN — A North Texas legislator during House testimony on voter identification legislation said Asian-descent voters should adopt names that are “easier for Americans to deal with.”
The comments caused the Texas Democratic Party on Wednesday to demand an apology from state Rep. Betty Brown, R-Terrell. But a spokesman for Brown said her comments were only an attempt to overcome problems with identifying Asian names for voting purposes.
The exchange occurred late Tuesday as the House Elections Committee heard testimony from Ramey Ko, a representative of the Organization of Chinese Americans.
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.
Easier for voting?
Brown suggested that Asian-Americans should find a way to make their names more accessible.
“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 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?”
Democratic Chairman Boyd Richie said Republicans are trying to suppress votes with a partisan identification bill and said Brown “is adding insult to injury with her disrespectful comments.”
Brown spokesman Jordan Berry said Brown was not making a racially motivated comment but was trying to resolve an identification problem.
Berry said Democrats are trying to blow Brown’s comments out of proportion because polls show most voters support requiring identification for voting. Berry said the Democrats are using racial rhetoric to inflame partisan feelings against the bill.
“They want this to just be about race,” Berry said.
Leave a Comment »
Share
Entries (RSS)
THX1138
5:18 am | Apr 10, 2009Heh. I saw this article and was going to post it here, but you beat me to it. :)
And I love Texass. It’s the homestate of George W. Bush. That about says it all.
“Brown later told 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?”
If Rep. Betty Brown wants Asian Americans to whitewash their names, how about Cracker Kim? Or Redneck Yoshida? Or Gringo Bastard Liu?
That should make things somewhat more accessible for Amurikans.
Democratic Chairman Boyd Richie said Republicans are trying to suppress votes with a partisan identification bill and said Brown “is adding insult to injury with her disrespectful comments.”
Republicans trying to suppress votes? Perish the thought. What’s next? Stolen elections?
None dare call it stolen:
Ohio, the election, and America’s servile press
http://harpers.org/archive/2005/08/0080696
Was the 2004 Election Stolen? http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10432334/was_the_2004_election_stolen/print
DONKEY
4:33 pm | Apr 11, 2009the counties which Brown represents have virtually no Asian-descent voters or people to speak of. kaufman and henderson are pretty much all rural. so it certainly wasn’t an issue in her election.. so where does this come from?
sunday brunch after church, everybody and their sibling/spouse getting riled up about “forners” and their difficult names. “hey betty you work for the gubment, whydone you do summin about it?”
the people who make the decisions there are the same people whose lives are affected the least by the issues one way or another.
EvilPanda
10:54 pm | Apr 13, 2009THIS IS EXACTLY THE KIND OF ATTITUDE THAT LEADS TO IGNORANCE FOR OTHER PEOPLE!
I’m proud of my asian name…my parents gave me this name and it represents the bond between my bothers and sisters. I’m a first-generation asian that was “assigned” an english name but then later legally changed it to my real asian name. That’s how much culture it means to my family having an asian name.
Crakass Betty. Hey, maybe you should change your name because i don’t feel comfortable saying, “Brown.” Brown is something that comes out of me after dinner.
evil_FUX
6:36 pm | Apr 14, 2009Btw, I just caught this on the Onion. Too funny.
http://www.theonion.com/content/amvo/texas_legislator_wants_asians_to
onemoretran
11:40 pm | Apr 19, 2009I grew up in predominantly white schools. During the first few role calls in almost every class, the teacher had trouble pronouncing 80% of the kids’ last names. My classes were made up of mostly white kids, some Hispanic, a couple Asians. My teachers, from K thru high school, have all been white. So I guess that means as long as you’re white, you get to keep your last name because your white teacher was simply being an idiot when he/she couldn’t say your name right. If you’re not white, you should change your name because anyone of any race will have difficulty pronouncing your name correctly because you are Asian American.
Right.
I guess that means the entire human race should all have the same last name, something super simple, mono-syllabic. How about Lee? I’ve known Black, Asian, and White kids with Lee for a last name. It’s simple enough to pronounce and seems to span across several races currently, so why not make that the standard for our future?
Right.
“They want this to just be about race,” Berry said.
I’m sorry, who are you targeting for this fantastic legislation? Who is making this about race? Idiot.
I have seen PUL-ENTY of German and Greek names that the average white American cannot pronounce. They are just as vehement as APAs about retaining their traditions, cultures, which includes their LAST NAMES. Try telling them to simplify/Americanize their names for the sake of small town Texas and Houston’s simple, homespun Betty Brown.
evil_FUX
5:20 pm | Apr 21, 2009nicely put onemoretran