Texas lawmaker: Asians should change their names to make them ‘easier for Americans'

[winner2000]

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.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/09/brown-asian-names/

[dragon_drift]

how hard is it to pronounce chinese names? It's not like it's super long.

[Paranoidandroid]

“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese

Pronouncing Chinese names in English =/= learning Chinese... they make it sound like you need to take a language course in order to pronounce names.

Are all Texans this ethnocentric?

[beetfarm]

Asian names aren't even that hard to pronounce. The most common last names are like Kim, Tran, Chan etc. You could argue that names like Dišljenković and a lot of the other 'vics are harder to pronounce. But even then, change it to an easier name to pronounce to make it more convenient for others? Stupid.

[laptop-tech]

I dont think that "Kevin" is hard to pronounce.

[V A N Q U I S H]

how hard is it to pronounce chinese names? It's not like it's super long.

Seriously, before reading the article I thought if anything, they were talking about South Indian people's names. East Asian names are usually pronounced they way they are read.

Of course there are some weird ones like Xuang (pronounced: Zwang).

[_Allan_]

The names *I* don't like trying to pronounce are Sri Lanken, Turkish, and other middle eastern names ... first name and last name are each like 30 letters long and some with only 1 or 3 vowels ... grrr Balamugunthan Abrahhargarashi

[Rehan]

“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language ...

I can see how Chinese would be difficult to learn for someone who can't even speak common sense.

I'd love to hear this lady announce an NHL hockey game...the results would be hilarious!

[branat]

Like Jiverly Wong?

[bokep]

I think Eastern European names are much harder to pronounce. I remember one polish teacher, Ms. Chowaniec --> pronounced something like "ho-va-ni-etz".

Wang isn't very hard

[AudiDude]

Everthing is dumber in Texas...

[Engi-Nir]

Everthing is dumber in Texas...

and they have the right to bear arms...dangerous combo

[dighn]

asian names are usually simple to pronounce since they are direct phonetic translations of single syllables. she is either an idiot or just racist, possibly both.

[nano]

they need some phonics lessons.....

[pablonutribar]

I have an easier solution. Whenever I see a name I don't know (or am not sure of), I just call the person 'bing bong'. Problem solved!!