Texas Lawmaker Says Asians should change their name

[mmurray21]

She is serious.....of course its the democrats fault for making this into a "race issue"

AUSTIN — A North Texas legislator during House testimony on voter identification legislation said Asian-descent voters should adopt names that are “easier for Americans to deal with.”

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.
Easier for voting?

Brown suggested that Asian-Americans should find a way to make their names more accessible.

“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 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?”

Democratic Chairman Boyd Richie said Republicans are trying to suppress votes with a partisan identification bill and said Brown “is adding insult to injury with her disrespectful comments.”

Brown spokesman Jordan Berry said Brown was not making a racially motivated comment but was trying to resolve an identification problem.

Berry said Democrats are trying to blow Brown’s comments out of proportion because polls show most voters support requiring identification for voting. Berry said the Democrats are using racial rhetoric to inflame partisan feelings against the bill.

“They want this to just be about race,” Berry said.

[DFWJC]

Well intentioned but very misguided. Nothing more, nothing less.

[JBond]

Why are they running around using two different names to start with? That gal in Texas and this entire story is odd to say the least.

[daschoo]

over here a lot of asians have there proper names that will appear on all documentation but if they have a particularly complicated name then they will adopt something a little easier for us to use, kind of like a nickname. for example the guy who lives next door to my mum and dad has about 18 letters in his first name so calls himself anil to make it easier for all concerned. his name on any official correspondance is still the 18 letter one though. i would guess it would be something similar to that?

[TheCount]

Originally Posted by daschoo

over here a lot of asians have there proper names that will appear on all documentation but if they have a particularly complicated name then they will adopt something a little easier for us to use, kind of like a nickname. for example the guy who lives next door to my mum and dad has about 18 letters in his first name so calls himself anil to make it easier for all concerned. his name on any official correspondance is still the 18 letter one though. i would guess it would be something similar to that?

Yeah, a lot of cultures do that, not just Asians.

What this woman is suggesting is that they use that nick name as their official names, which is fine as a suggestion, but this is America, it's completely up to the individual.

But I guess when you have a name as generic as "Betty Brown", you feel anyone with more than two syllables in their name is making things too difficult for everyone else.

[Bob Sacamano]

if I were Asian I would have fun with this

I would call myself George Washington, or Adolph Hitler

maybe call myself George Wallace

[irvin4evs]

This isn't nearly as good as the Louisianan rep who wanted to pay welfare mothers to have their tubes tied.

It's not racist!

[ShiningStar]

All people had to do that, hell some had to change their last names because it was so long. I remember Italians doing that, some jewish people in college i meant said their last names were changed. I actually had a conversation with a female who was explaining to me that some jewish people ended up with a name related to their profession. If someone had the last name Spector it was a good chance they were an inspector of something before they got here.

Nothing wrong with what she said, funny the Democrats had a problem with it, not the Asians.

[mmillman]

why is it the right is against government in their lives until it serves them?

[zrinkill]

This whole thing is stupid.

[sacase]

ok that is just dumb. I would am embarrassed by some of the people we put into office.

[jrumann59]

Originally Posted by sacase

ok that is just dumb. I would am embarrassed by some of the people we put into office.

I have no problem with a requirement for first name to be changed to something more easily pronounced and read as long as the last name is kept, come on I am asian and trust me there is nothing more mind blowing then having names get screwed up because one dialect pronounces things similar to another country's name. Example, Nyugen either pronounced "Win" or "New Yen"

[ShiningStar]

Originally Posted by jrumann59

I have no problem with a requirement for first name to be changed to something more easily pronounced and read as long as the last name is kept, come on I am asian and trust me there is nothing more mind blowing then having names get screwed up because one dialect pronounces things similar to another country's name. Example, Nyugen either pronounced "Win" or "New Yen"

Because its easier for Americans to sit on the sidelines and call someone stupid. She has a valid reason to make it easier on Asians, who have a complicated language, to make things easier both on themselves and the government they are going to have to deal with.

And yes, before you ask, Americans, not Asians, will expect the government to know all the Asian languages and dialects.