Faith Troup (FT)
FT:
Hello, hello everyone. This is Faith, your host for the “Yo, is This Racist” podcast. I hope you all are doing well today. So today I will be talking about an issue that is not very commonly talked about but is definitely something that needs to be addressed more often since it tends to be a subconscious bias towards various individuals in society. That discrimination is based on someone’s name, or name discrimination. So before we hop into our topic, let’s get an idea of what name discrimination is. Basically, whenever a person has a name that sounds like it’s ethnic or has a racial affiliation and it’s difficult to pronounce, people may presume things about that individual. These assumptions can be positive, but oftentimes they are negative, especially when the name is non-westernized. Now, this is a problem in various aspects of life, but it becomes a particular issue in educational institutions or in the workplace when people are trying to find jobs and get promotions. In general, name discrimination prevents advancements in many aspects of life, whether that be professional, academically, financially, etc.
Before we go on, I want to play a little game. It’s called the name association game and it usually has a light-hearted feel, but ours won’t so much unfortunately. What I’m going to do is say some names and I want you to write down or just keep in your mind the original things that come to mind in the first five seconds that I say the name. This is just to get an idea of the impressions or connotations that you associate with these names. Let’s begin. The first name is going to be Jamal. The next name is Muhammad. And the third name and last name that we’re going to do is Jesus. Now, I’ll let you determine if the words that you associated with those names were negative or positive, but the real problem comes in when we associate the names with negative stigmas. So let’s say for Jamal, if someone were to hear that name and automatically think of a dishonest person, that becomes a problem because if you think of Jamal as a dishonest person, you’re not going to want to hire him. And so although Jamal may not be a dishonest person, he could be great, it does not matter. With name discrimination, stereotypes are created which always clouds fair judgement. And these stereotypes are harmful, they are negative, and ultimately are inaccurate. Even though they are inaccurate, when people that practice name discrimination and believe in these stereotypes are in power, such as employers in corporations or admittance counselers in schools and universities, it does not allow people with these non-western names to advance even if they have the qualifications to do so.
Now, name discrimination is not a new concept. In fact, it’s been around for quite a while. We’re just learning more about it because there have been various studies that are providing more evidence and providing personal experiences. One study that was conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research showed this name discrimination trend and how it’s a real problem in workforce. This study showed that the applicants with white names only needed to submit an average of ten resumes to get a call back compared to applicants with African American names who needed to submit an average of fifteen resumes to get a call back. Now this study was only a small percentage of those that make up the workforce so there are definitely many more people experiencing this. Another study conducted in the year 2000 focused on Jewish individuals. Just to sum up the study, they basically wanted to change their names so that they could blend in better with society and not stick out so that they would be less likely to experience various forms of discrimination. The study also showed that after the September 11th attacks, many Arab Americans wanted to change their names so they didn’t appear as Muslim or Arabic and to seem more loyal to America. They believed that having an Arabic or Muslim name could possibly harm there futures in this country.
Now I personally have never had an experience with name discrimination. My name is super basic, very westernized and easy to pronounce. My name also does not really say anything about my race, so I personally cannot relate to this problem. However, a friend of mine who actually happens to be the inspiration for this podcast has had many problems with name discrimination. This friend has a very complicated name which is not westernized at all. When I first met her, she had to teach me how to say her name because it was that difficult for me to pronounce. Aside from this, she’s a super intelligent, hardworking, smart, and overall a great person. One day, she was explaining to me that she had applied for a job that she was very sure that she was qualified for. However, she had surprisingly received an email saying that they were not going to go forward with an interview because she was underqualified. They ended the letter by saying to not apply until she had met their standards. Overall, not the kindest letter, especially considering that she did meet the qualifications that they had listed on the application. After she was done explaining her frustrations, she ended by saying that “Oh well, they probably saw my name on the resume.” Up until that point, I had never heard of name discrimination or even the concept. In addition to this experience, she had told me of other situations that she had faced as an immigrant with her name and accent, such as people assuming that she could not speak English or that she did not receive a proper education in her home country. Honestly, just very degrading and insulting stereotypes that were based in the ignorant practice of name discrimination.
So another problem with name discrimination is that many people do not think that it truly is a form of discrimination because a person is not blatantly saying racial slurs, negatively commenting on a person’s skin color or hair texture, or whatever other forms of racial insensitivity. Because the hate is not overt, it does not seem like it is an injustice that needs to be eradicated in our society. Furthermore, although name discrimination may sometimes be a subconscious bias, it is still a problematic offense and unfair treatment that ultimately stunts the growth and advancement of minorities with these names. Going forward, what can we do about this? How can we fix it? Because there is no purpose in addressing a problem if nothing is going to be changed.
I think that the first major step is recognizing name discrimination as an issue. After this, we have to accept that we have internal biases because whether we want to accept it or not, everyone has preconceived notions about a person or a group of people.
The next step is learning how to overcome these internal biases. Basically, this means how are we going to learn to unlearn these harmful narratives, especially in a society that is so determined on being prejudiced against so many diverse groups of people. Lastly, and I believe the most important step is realizing that this is a collective effort. It’s kind of like a no man left behind sort of movement. While we have to hold ourselves accountable for our own biases, it’s also important to hold others accountable for their biases and whatever prejudices that they may display towards others. These biases are not limited to only name discrimination, but also include general racism, sexism, xenophobia, and so many other forms of discrimination. And I know that we live in a society where it’s sort of like “What other people do is none of my business.” There’s some truth to that of course, but at the same time, discrimination will never be eradicated if we do not hold others responsible for these kinds of mistreatments that they direct towards others. It may be uncomfortable at first, but this means everyone, including family, friends, and coworkers. There may be some awkward conversations at first, but it will be well worth it.
So just to recap really quick, to overcome the problem of name discrimination, we have to accept name discrimination as a problem and recognize our own internal biases, we must learn how to unlearn these internal biases, and hold others that display the prejudices accountable, no matter who they may be.I hope you learned a lot today about this issue and I especially hope that you choose to go forward in your daily lives making a conscious effort to treat all people equally regardless of their differences. Goodbye for now!