"On Having a Black Name"

[browngirl]

From hitchhiker:

On having a black name by Daisy of Daisy's Dead Air.



An example of what people said to her when she used to work customer service and she gave her name:

"Are you black? Give me someone white. I want someone who can find their ass with both hands, no offense."

Comments

[eudociainboston.livejournal.com]

Grandpa (Mexican- first one in the family born here) adopted my mom (Irish decent). People would hear her hispanic last name and get very confused. She was a pale, freckled, blue eyed redhead. Grandpa was Mexican and looked it. Apparently if you have the last name Cuevas you are a migrant fruit worker or something.

[klingonlandlady.livejournal.com]

I've had a couple of serious boyfriends who were Asian-American. That would be the only reason I'd consider changing my name when married, would be to frack with people's heads :)

[mtgat]

My very blonde aunt married a man whose last name was Vargas. My older cousin has the classic features associated with a Mexican heritage, while my younger cousin is, like her mom, blonde. I'm not sure which surprised people more: the blonde Vargas girl or the dark-haired one who opened her mouth and spoke with the broadest Baltimore accent you've ever heard.

In regards to the original post, people suck and I'm glad Daisy posted.

*hugs Ny*

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Telemarketers somewhat frequently call us and talk to us in Spanish. For my wife, who's last name is "Riba". Her Spanish consists of high-school language classes, and she actually got her last name from Poland.

Of course, her brother somehow ended up olive-complexioned and dark-haired. He worked as an undercover vice cop in the Tampa Bay area, where a lot of the gangs are Hispanic, so it actually helped . . .

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

There's a white woman here who married a Maori man and took his name. She went on radio to talk about how differently she was treated for having a Maori last name, as compared with the English one she'd had before she got married. The example that sticks in my head was mechanics who'd been happy to have her just drop off the car to their premises when they were talking to her on the phone (she had an "educated" sounding NZ accent), suddenly deciding they needed a deposit before starting work upon hearing her Maori surname.