"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

[aprilkat.livejournal.com]

Wow, that blew my mind.

I wonder if the phone provides that extra layer of "anonymity," like the internet, that people would say things that one HOPES they wouldn't to someone's face (as far as the outright racist language). It's crushing enough that people think it - that they dare say it to the person they are dissing is outrageous.

Fascinating.

[rebmommy.livejournal.com]

Internet, phone, cars on highways - they all create a sense of "anonymity" that can lead to insensitivity. Somehow that anonymity allows some people to be stupid and discourteous in a way that they never would be face-to-face. At least, I hope they would think more carefully face-to-face.