Texas lawmaker: Asians should change their names to make them ‘easier for Americans to deal with.’

It's 2009 folks, and it's disheartening to know certain individuals still think like this. However, I'm not surprised that a TEXAS lawmaker would come out of their mouths speaking such nonsense. Afterall, they named one of their parkways in Dallas after President George Bush, Sr. Yikes! Anyhow, more information on this jaw-dropping story is provided below:

On Tuesday, April 7th, 2009, State Rep. Betty Brown (R) caused an uproar during House testimony regarding voter identification legislation. Brown proposed 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.

Later, Brown spoke with [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 refused to calls to apologize. Her spokesman said that Democrats “want this to just be about race.”

This is the type of mentality that results in unfortunate events like the Jena 6, Police Brutality in California, and Sean Bell incidents, alike. Ridiculous. It's 2009, folks, it's time to get real.

Special thanks to Jasmine Smith who helped contribute to this article

The Obama Effect

The University of Minnesota is hosting "The Obama Effect" conference and having several forums and events about Barack Obama's race to The White House. Tonight Joe Feagin, a Pulitzer Prize nominated sociology professor at Texas A&M University, spoke on "The Impact of White Racism on the Obama Campaign." This white male (pictured ) was the most educated person I have ever heard speak on the topic of race.

He started with, "America is the only advanced country in the world founded on racial oppression"; yes he meant business. Obama is probably in the top 2 or 3 most talented men to run for president and has one of the best organized and tech savy campaigns in history. However, he still does not have the majority of the white vote and many white voters continue to doubt his ability to lead this nation. Based on Obama's credentials, this election should be a landslide. Obama is only leading the polls by a small margin because of the "White Racial Frame" that dates back to the foundation of this nation.

Since the beginning of this nation, white people have believed that white is virtuous and black is bad. This idea that black is bad has extensively fueled the image of the "dangerous black man." The black male is often stereotyped, as inferior, angry, and violent; I mean look at how the media ripped Dr. Jeremiah Wright to pieces because of a 30-second clip from a 40 minutes sermon. However, we barely heard about John Hagee, John McCain's long time friend and pastor that married him and his wife Cindy. Yes, Hagee's comments about having a "slave sale" to raise funds for high school seniors or that "Hurricane Katrina was God's curse on New Orleans" were over looked. But the media just cannot let this Reverend Wright story go.

Why has Barack Obama been able to escape this label and come so close to becoming this nation's first black president? Answer: He is making history because white people see him as the "exception to his race." Obama can maintain a strong black persona and dodge race issues at the same time. He was raised by a white mother and went to a good school, one Obama campaign volunteer explained "he is not the product of any ghetto." No he is not the product of any ghetto, but the majority of American-Americans aren't either. Does that mean myself and all my friends are also "exceptions to our race?"

Barack Obama must talk and act in a way that pleases white liberals. It's acceptable for John McCain to get angry during debates, but Barack Obama must watch what he says and keep his composure. If not, the white liberals will label him as that dangerous black male.

Professor Feagin said so much more, but I think I will save the rest for later. I agree with most of his arguments; and understand how Barack must feel everyday. Like I asked in my previous post; When we will stop having to prove ourselves to white people?