I confess that I am guilty of judging a person by their name. We had a conversation a while back on the forum about the Black naming issue. I stated then, as I've always stated that African-Americans make it difficult for their kids when they give them certain names. I still believe that. While I personally may not like the sound of a certain name as it evokes a particular image of a person, I didn't think that I would be guilty of the same pre-judgement, until today!
I'm in the process of filling an entry level position. I got my first resume from the HR supervisor and lo and behold there's Ms. Shaniqua applying for a job! I'm ashamed to say my initial reaction was 'No Way'. I didn't even bother reading the resume. It took a while to get past the name at which point I decided to review her qualifications and education. There are less than 10 Black people company wide with approximately 200 employees.
I'm curious to see if Ms. Shaniqua actually sounds the way I expect her to and dresses accordingly. Guess, a part of me wants to prove the 'myth' right. Sad but true.
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Don't make the name a primary part of your judgement. Sometimes we end up been too hard on ourselves. In some circles they do as good as anybody else, so give the person a fair chance and you might be surprised. Don't expect anything and I would say don't put that weight on your shoulder.
Princess, many Shaniquas are coming of age, while most probably came from underpriveledge background they are not letting that hold them back. You will find many Shaniquas in every profession throughout the USA and thankfully the trend is growing.
As this trend continues to grow we must make a conscious effort to change our reservation when we see the name. If anything the name is a reflection on their parents.
I am also noticing that there are many Shaniquas in the non-Yanki black population.
OP, I wished you had chosen different Shaquinas and not a basketball player or a video-vixen wanna-be. Find me a teacher/nurse/engineer who speaks English I can understand and presents herself in a professional manner.
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South Floridians for Asafa
So government jobs? Hhhhmm... Interesting... As an ex-government employee can't say that it carries much weight. Too many in positions that they should not be holding and only keep because they are usually grandfathered-in.
Haven't met a Shenenay or Shiquantilla that didn't live up to their name.
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South Floridians for Asafa
Today I was driving with this lady and she saw this white lady with brown and blue hair.
Immeadiately she said is that the mother or the sister of the little girl who was walking with her.
I said, why?? Are u asking bcoz of her hair colour.
She said what can she be teaching her child. What influences could the little girl be getting? She screamed.
I said maybe she's teaching her little girl how to be individualistic and how to be herself.
But big up to anyone who can accept that no one is perfect.
I get judged everyday with the job I do.. If a person doesn't want to give me a chance. I tell them it's there loss.... Those who take the chance are always pleasantly surprised.
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One killed as LA women brawl in street Last Updated: 2:54am GMT 07/11/2007
A pregnant woman was killed in Los Angeles and two other people were injured when they were rammed by a car during a street fight involving as many as 30 young women.
Shontae Blanche, 22, who was more than four months pregnant, was killed when the car was deliberately driven into her.
Two others, who were not named, were injured in the crash. One was in critical condition and was expected to lose her leg, police said.
advertisementThe attack took place in South Los Angeles, an area notorious for gang violence.
The alleged driver of the car, Unique Bishop, 21, turned herself in to police after the fight, which took place on Monday. She was arrested on suspicion of murder and is being held £500,000 bail.
Police said the cause of the dispute is unclear, but believed that it was spontaneous and not planned as early local reports had suggested.
Witnesses told police they saw the women fighting in a shop car park before moving into a street and then a petrol station.
One witness, who asked not to be identified, told the Los Angeles Times that the car hit Miss Blanche and dragged her nearly 10 feet until she fell off, then backed up and ran over her again.
A group of 300 people had gathered and were watching as the car was driven into the group, it was reported.
"It was totally an intentional act to kill the woman. It was the driver's way of settling the dispute. It was a horrific act," said Los Angeles deputy police chief, Charlie Beck.
"We don't normally have conflicts on that scale, especially involving females."
Mr Beck said the women were not gang members but they were aligned with them. "Usually the female associates are content to remain on the fringes, but here they were the ones doing the fighting."
Here is a case of a Shaquanda getting a raw deal. Wonder how much her name influenced the severity of the sentence.
15 YEAR OLD GIRL, GETS SEVEN YEARS IN PRISON FOR PUSHING A TEACHER!!!
Creola Cotton (left) and Shaquanda Cotton By Tracy Stokes, BET.com News Staff & Wire Services
Posted March 28, 2007 - In Paris, Texas, last year, a 14-year-old White girl burns down her family's home. Her punishment? Probation. In the same town three months later, a 15-year-old Black girl, Shaquanda Cotton, is sentenced to seven years in prison for pushing a hall monitor at her high school. Shaquanda had no prior arrests, and the monitor, a 58-year-old teacher's aide, was not hurt, according to Black leaders in the northeast Texas town of about 26,000 residents. But in March 2006, the same judge, Lamar County Judge Chuck Superville, who let the White teenage girl go on probation, convicted Shaquanda of 'assault on a public servant' and sent her to prison at least until she turns 21. Officials at the Texas Youth Commission declined to discuss the case with BET.com, citing Texas law. 'State law forbids us from acknowledging whether we have any youths are in our system, despite the 50 million issues of print that's been run,' said Jim Hurley, a spokesman for the Texas Youth Commission. 'We'd have to break the law to talk about it.' Civil Rights Uproar While the U.S. Department of Education is investigating the incident, the case has civil rights groups in an uproar. 'I don't understand the judge's rationale for his decision,' Dr. Howard Anderson, president of the San Antonio Branch of the NAACP, told BET.com. In highlighting what he called an egregious miscarriage of justice in a town with a long history of civil rights abuses, Anderson pointed to the case of the 14-year-old convicted arson (whose name was not released because of her age), who was slapped with probation, and the case of a 19-year-old White man in Paris, convicted of killing a 54-year-old Black woman and her 3-year-old grandson with his truck. The latter, he said, was also sentenced to probation and told to send the family a Christmas card every year. 'Then you have Shaquanda's case,' Anderson said. 'She pushed a hall monitor, and she gets seven years confinement? If I look at all three of these sentences, and I'm not a lawyer, I have to wonder what the judicial system is doing. In this particular case, what is this judge doing?' Gary Bledsoe, an Austin attorney who heads the state NAACP branch, told BET.com that Shaquanda was merely trying to defend herself. 'All she (Shaquanda) did was grab the aide to prevent a strike,' Bledsoe said. 'It's like they are sending a signal to Black folks in Paris that you stay in your place in this community, in the shadows, intimidated.' Sad History And keeping Blacks in their place is nothing new in Paris, say leaders, who remind that it's the site of the first highly publicized lynching of a Black by a large White mob. In 1893, fugitive Henry White was captured in Arkansas and brought to Paris, where he was tortured and burned alive on a train bed as more than 10,000 angry townsfolk cheered and jeered. Activists say that the Shaquanda sentence is nothing more than a modern-day lynching. Cotton has been incarcerated at a youth prison in Brownwood, Texas, for the last year on a sentence that could run until her 21st birthday. But like many of the other youths in the system, she is eligible to earn early release if she achieves certain social, behavioral and educational milestones while in prison. But according to The Chicago Tribune, officials at the Ron Jackson Correctional Complex repeatedly have extended Shaquanda's sentence because she refuses to admit guilt and because she reportedly was found with contraband in her cell - an extra pair of socks. 'She's not admitting any guilt, because she doesn't feel that she did anything,' Anderson told BET.com. 'Not to mention, who saw the pushing, if it did occur?'
Cotton's mother, Creola, who Anderson describes as 'strong-willed,' said her daughter was singled out because she accused the school district of racism on several occasions. In fact, 12 discrimination complaints have been filed against the Paris Independent School District in recent years. District officials dispute the charges, but the U.S. Department of Education, which is still investigating the case, has reportedly asked the U.S. Department of Justice to get involved. In 1998, Paris, Texas, was named the 'Best Small Town in Texas' by Kevin Heubusch in his book The New Rating Guide to Life in America's Small Cities.
*****FORWARD THIS ON TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE!!! WE NEED TO BRING THESE INJUSTICES TO LIGHT*****
Are you interested in reaching out to Shaquanda? You can write a directly to her at the address below: She also receive mail here: Ron Jackson Correctional Complex, Unit 2, Dorm 4 P.O. Box 872 Brownwood, Texas 76804 1125308 Protest letters can also be sent to Judge Chuck Superville, who handed down the sentence at the address below: Honorable M.C. (Chuck) Superville, Jr., Judge Lamar County Courthouse 119 North Main Paris, TX 75460 Phone # 903-737-2410 Fax # 903-785-3858
Registered: 07/24/07
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Celebrex? Vioxx? Sounds like DJD to me. An all dis time mi a tek u fi spring chicken LOL!
So now I better understand. Its not personal. It is generational.
Before the 60's when a baby was born status or religion would dictate the name of the child. Children born in slavery were named after their masters. When African-Americans got their choice, African-American children were named after dead presidents. There were a lot of Washingtons, Lincolns and Jeffersons named back then.
In the hospital of the English-speaking Caribbean, eg; The Jubilee Hospital in Kingston, Ja., the young mothers were given Naming-Books with British names to "Hurry up and pick one". So in Jamaica for example there were a lot of Patricks and Rodneys. These names still persist in JA.
In the Catholic dominated countries of South America and the caribbean children were named after saints. In Haiti for example, almost all the girls are named after the Virgin Mary. Haitian girls are also given a middle name by which they are called in Haiti.
However, when they migrate to the USA they are all called by their first name here. As a result almost every Haitian lady in the US is called by your favorite name MARIE!
Based on research, during the 60's and later African-Naming books started to appear on the streets of the cities and in small African-American owned stores. That was the begining of the names which you dislike.
I'm as young as I fee... a mean look! Even so, a decade or so ago when I was a teenager (if anybody evah!!) I did never like none a dem names. Thanks for the history on the naming game, but neither Shaniqua nor Showana getting the job!
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South Floridians for Asafa
