Black Names

Recent studies attempt to prove that Blacks with names such as Keisha, Jamal, or Natasha are discriminated against when an employer is browsing through a pile of resumes or job applications. Many suggest that Blacks who have those names are profiled and not getting a second look, the employer supposing the person carries a negative stereotype that comes with the name.

Many Black intellectualist have gone as far as to suggest that Blacks name their children "American" names so not as to appear too "Black" (ghetto) or ethnic. Well, from the perspective of many Blacks who are proud of their names, we say...to hell with what people think.

Your name is your identity and one should accept and be proud of their name, especially if it has Afrocentric relevancy. No other culture on this earth have altered their cultural traditions to fit in with Western ideology accept the Black American. If whites and or employers would rather decide on the worth of a person based on their name, then let them; it only reveals their bigotry.

When Blacks begin to, or continue to have high rates of unemployment, this would definitely be a variable, which is not one that cannot be done away with if racism is supposedly dead in America. If this is true and Blacks are left out of the employment sector, or profiled in any other institution of American society because of their names, then one would have to question the authenticity of the claim "equal opportunity."

Should we be surprised?

© August 2005 by CR Hamilton