Betty Brown, Texas Republican, Asks Asian-Americans To Simplify Names

As the Houston Chronicle reported Thursday, Betty Brown, a Republican state representative, is facing numerous demands that she apologize for having said that voters of Asian descent should adopt names that are "easier for Americans to deal with."

From the Chronicle:

The comments caused the Texas Democratic Party on Wednesday to demand an apology from state Rep. Betty Brown, R-Terrell. But a spokesman for Brown said her comments were only an attempt to overcome problems with identifying Asian names for voting purposes.

The exchange occurred late Tuesday as the House Elections Committee heard testimony from Ramey Ko, a representative of the Organization of Chinese Americans.

Ko told the committee that people of Chinese, Japanese and Korean descent often have problems voting and other forms of identification because they may have a legal transliterated name and then a common English name that is used on their driver's license on school registrations.

Brown's spokesman has said she was not trying to make a racially motivated comment. Her comments did, however, cause politicians as far away as New York to call on her to apologize for her statements.

As Kristv.com reports, one such complaint came from New York City Councilman John Liu:

In a letter to Brown sent Thursday, Liu called on her to either apologize or resign.

"It's outrageous and insulting for you to suggest it would 'behoove' us to adopt another name, to give up our birthright and a part of our own identity, in order to exercise our right to vote," he said.

WATCH:

Comments

[kylennblack]

"easier for Americans to deal with."

I'm American and I have no problem with Chen, Kim, Tran, Sugimoto, Eng, Wang, Vong, Fujiwara..­.and name one person in Seattle who can't say Ichiro!

[Sundance7]

Many years ago I worked with a lovely Asian woman named Helen. Whenever her mother would call her she would ask for Mae then correct herself and ask for Helen. I asked her why her mother sometimes asks for Mae, she told me many years ago in China when she was a little girl she and many other children were coming to America. But before they were given their papers they were told to all stand in different lines, all boys, all girls. Once they were lined up the instructor went to each line and told them that from now on they will be known as Helen, Mary, Fred, Joe, etc etc. I then asked her how she felt about that. She said she really didn't like it. Her Mother and Father called her Mae. When I asked her if I could also call her Mae her face lit up and she said yes. Every time I said her name as Mae she smiled.

[roshni]

How sad to have to submit your identity because of the lack of imagination and effort of others.

[ofcoursejesusisblack]

Whenever I am faced with this foolishness I make it a point to learn and pronounce "non-American" sounding names. Its pure laziness, arrogance and an imperialist mindset that makes people not want to learn a person's name and half of the people who do this claim to be educated.

[TXfemmom]

I live in TX, and some of these folks are just about the most arrogant and the most stubbornly idiotic people I have ever met.

[janie@atthelake]

I'm in Austin and YES, it is embarrassing.

[themonkeyhaslanded]

I know people have been pointing this out, but here it goes:

Biletnikoff
Buoniconti
Csonka
DeLamielleure
Michalske
Nagurski
Nitschke
Stydahar
Wehrli
Wojciechowicz

These are all guys in the most American game of all, Football.

[progresemulo]

I don't know about that

Polish = Russian = USSR = Communism = SOCIALISM

[ManassasMan]

I suppose all males in Texas should be named "Billy Bob", right ?

[dontvote4him]

Their names are tongue twisters.

[roshni]

So?

[clyons]

What is with all of this "us" and "you" language and asking how can you help Americans? Aren't the Asians who are voting also American citizens? Aren't they part of us? Aside from the obvious shamefulness on the part of Rep. Brown, her underlying insinuations are truly at the heart of the problem.

[roshni]

Obviously not.

[nana4g]

As ugly as they all are, there is nothing more ugly than a Texas Republican. The ignorance and prejudice is astounding. I have lived here all my life and have never seen it as bad as it is now, several years into being a "red" state, through suspicious maneuverings of redistricting a while back.

I am disgusted and sick to my stomach with them. Our state not only looks bad but it has deteriorated in all respects. I cannot name one Republican in Texas who serves with any honor, dignity, or integrity. They are, every last one of them, an embarrassment and a shame on all of us. Their ignorance is beyond words.

We need to clean house on the state level as well as the federal level. We have some very good candidates of Democrat Party for US Senator, but, the governorship will end up a Republican contest between Perry and Hutchison. So I did some reading. If that is the only choice we have, Kay Bailey Hutchison may be someone I can live with. Re Senators, however, it will be an easy choice to replace her with one of the Democrat candidates, and, one by one, we will turn blue again.

[Eres]

Well.....S­pencer Bachus of Alabama and his list of "Socialists" is pretty ugly too. Please contact his office and express your outrage of his McCarthy style witch hunt.

Washington, D.C. Office
2246 Rayburn Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
202 225-4921 phone
202 225-2082 fax

Birmingham Office
1900 International Park Dr. Suite 107
Birmingham, AL 35243
205 969-2296 phone
205 969-3958 fax

Clanton Office
703 2nd Avenue North
P.O. Box 502
Clanton, AL 35046
205 280-0704 phone
205 280-3060 fax

[Eres]

Well.....S­pencer Bachus of Alabama and his list of "Socialists" is pretty ugly too. Please contact his office and express your outrage of his McCarthy style witch hunt.

Washington, D.C. Office
2246 Rayburn Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
202 225-4921 phone
202 225-2082 fax

Birmingham Office
1900 International Park Dr. Suite 107
Birmingham, AL 35243
205 969-2296 phone
205 969-3958 fax

Clanton Office
703 2nd Avenue North
P.O. Box 502
Clanton, AL 35046
205 280-0704 phone
205 280-3060 fax

[roshni]

Fanned.
Texas Rethugs are indeed ugly and contemptible.

[ICU1225]

Betty, I have some ideas that might help you. (I am assuming you should never be called Elizabeth, and Margaret should never be called Peggy, which has always confused me). All names that might confuse YOU should be converted to Betty.1; Betty.2; Betty.3; etc. and when they run out of that start Brown.1; Brown.2; etc. then BettyBoo.1­; BettyBoo.2­; etc. and males should be refered to as Toby.1; Toby.2 or Tom.1; Tom.2.

Oh, and Betty, what about those apostraphe (sp) names, should they get rid of the them too, because some computers will not accept it, like O'Reilly? And Bobby Jindal why Bobby, and not Robert Jindal?

And let's not allow people to have two pronunciation of words like: Neither, Either, Potatoe, Etc.

[Sundance7]

Maybe she can get them all to to watch reruns of The Brady Bunch and pick out American names like Bobby ( Piyush ) Jindell did. But tell them to pick carefully, Bobby Jindell was using Marsha Jindell for awhile.

[Sepulchre]

Maybe he originally wanted to be Marsha Brady.

[ICU1225]

Betty, I have some ideas that might help you. (I am assuming you should never be called Elizabeth, and Margaret should never be called Peggy, which has always confused me). All names that might confuse YOU should be converted to Betty.1; Betty.2; Betty.3; etc. and when they run out of that start Brown.1; Brown.2; etc. then BettyBoo.1­; BettyBoo.2­; etc.

Oh, and Betty, what about those apostraphe (sp) names, should they get rid of the them too, because some computers will not accept it, like O'Reilly? And Bobby Jindal why Bobby, and not Robert Jindal?

And let's not allow people to have two pronunciation of words like: Neither, Either, Potatoe, Etc.

[Bulbul]

Betty, I would call you Beth Bo from now on.
I don`t like your name, too many letters there !

[Cycadeoidea]

I like "Betty Boop." It's more descriptive and it doesn't have as many letters as Betty Brown.

[3Ravens]

Maybe Betty Brown and other Texas Republicans are "scaredy whites", but mostly I think it's a lack of exposure to the world outside their football-obsessed counties that cause this lack of curiosity and ability to connect to other people. I'll bet none of them have a problem pronouncing Tuiasosopo! They can pronounce the names of any football player, so maybe Asian Americans should try harder to make the team?

By the way, my last name is Willoughby, about as snobby ole' english as it gets, and I can't tell you how many people garble it. Maybe I should change it to Willowbee for my Southern compatriots?

[Cycadeoidea]

Well said. Doubtless many of these conservative live embarrassingly parochial lives. That in combination with being undereducated results in a myopic world view.

[SurrealPumpkin]

My family, English descent, have three different spellings of our last name. The three brothers came through immigration at different times. Each time the immigration official spelt the name the way it sounded to him (1800's so they were "he's")

[thinkworklivelove]

More divisive tactics brought by the Teabag Party. Way to go Republicans.