How White People Subtly Reinforce White Supremacy When They Laugh at Black Names

[LWolf]

109. As a teacher, I do this every year, too.

Except that it has nothing at all to do with race or ethnicity.

It has to do, first of all, with parents' need to establish their baby's unique identity in a world of 7 billion or so people. So they have to take a pretty common name and spell it differently, in many cases leaving us no clue how to actually say it. Or they pick something brand new that we can say, but may need to check our mental response at the door.

This particular teacher has a clear problem with race, and the name thing is just an excuse to express it.

Names tend to come in waves.

Some that are very popular right now in my area: Madeline, Makayla, Makenna, Hailey, Finn, Tristin, Grace, Tia, Abigail, Remington, Tori...just a few, but I have multiples of all of those, and none of them are spelled the same.

The Briannas and Michaelas are dying down.

Some of the more unique names that aren't often repeated that I've seen: Genesis, Sir, Doctor, Professor, Placenta, Stetson...and of course, there are many more.

I met a kindergartener last week named Jasper, and speculated that perhaps his mom was a Twighlight fan...

If I can respect the dignity of some kid named Professor when he's in my class, this teacher can get over her discomfort with "black names."