[ksen]

I imagined being a teacher in such a school. On the first day of class, I would have each of the students recite their first name and would then Anglicize it (or convert it to whatever comes close to being an actual name). I would tell them this is their grown-up name that will get them through life, get them a real job and keep them out of prison. Of course, I’d be fired and accused of being racist for doing nothing more than trying to help improve the students. If we had teachers actually willing to do that, it would go a long way into rescuing a culture set adrift to the lowest common denominator.

Yes, there's nothing racist at all about wanting to give black kids more white sounding names. I mean if Toby was good enough for their ancestors it should be good enough for them. :facepalm:

[fieldmarshaldj]

How many Black parents today are naming their children ACTUAL African names ? "Sharniqua'a Tahwumikaa" isn't an African name, it's a nonsense name. This has been an appalling trend since the 1960s and only condemns most of their children to a permanent position on the lowest rung of the socioeconomic scale. How bad is it when one reads an article about a criminal and because of the name, we instantly know their race ? I contend even naming these children as such is racist, and divisive... cultural apartheid.

By using the Kunta Kinte/Toby analogy, you've completely misunderstood and misrepresented what I've said. Nevermind that was a fictitious character to begin with, you're implying that by replacing a nonsense name (that has absolutely nothing to do with African heritage) with a mainstream name, that it equates to slavery. The whole point is to LIFT them out of the bondage that having such names keeps them in.

BTW, there is a "White" equivalent of that nonsense, with the children of hippies given such absurd names and amongst some today to go on bizarre orthographic expeditions on mainstream names (with the overdose of "e"'s "i's" and "y's").