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.

Please read this article and let me know what you think.  Please spread the word on this.  Should we 'mess with Texas'?  Betty, this is racist...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/moms/6365320.html

Lawmaker defends comment on Asians
Call for voters to simplify their names not racially motivated, Terrell Republican says
By R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
April 9, 2009, 11:58AM


For the Chronicle
Rep. Betty Brown, R-Terrell, made the remark during House testimony on Tuesday.

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Keep up with the latest in Washington and Texas 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.

r******@chron.com

34 months ago
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  • Al

    Margaret Cho commented on this on another site and that's where I first heard about it, and I have to say this lady is preposterous.I don't get her comment about making it easier for Americans to deal with...I mean Asian-Americans ARE Americans and I don't think there are many Asian names that are more difficult to pronounce than a lot of European names especially Eastern European....I agree, she just compacted the situation by commenting further on it. Maybe All Americans change our last names to every day things like Plate or something so as not to "confuse" anyone, but I am sure someone would probably not even know how to pronounce those...lmao!

    34 months ago

  • Jean

    I just read Margaret Cho's response in her blog (http://www.margaretcho.com/blog/).  I agree with Margaret about the inexcusable ignorance in America towards people of Asian (and other cultures).  And just like you Al, I don't think it will stop with Asian names either.  It may be Eastern European names or African names...  In this day and age, it's really appalling.  Here's the apology from Betty Brown.  She may have stuck her foot in her mouth once more by referring to Asian Americans as 'these people'

    Lawmaker apologizes for Voter ID remark
    Rep. Betty Brown: She is sorry, was misunderstood
    Updated: Thursday, 09 Apr 2009, 6:04 PM CDT
    Published : Thursday, 09 Apr 2009, 8:52 AM CDT

    Jenny Hoff
    AUSTIN (KXAN) - Answering a swarm of phone calls during a brief break on the House floor, Rep. Betty Brown , R-Terrell, kept telling reporters she was misunderstood.

    "I never meant they should change their names," said Rep. Brown.

    Brown is answering tough questions after an exchange between herself and Ramey Ko, a man who testified against the Voter ID bill before the House Elections committee.

    Ko told lawmakers that Asian-Americans that live in states that required a photo ID at the polls were being denied the right to vote because the name on their identification card and the name on the voter rolls sometimes did not match.

    "Chinese, Japanese and Korean names are not written with the English alphabet and frequently have multiple parts," said Ko. "When they transliterate these names, there are frequently inconsistencies."

    Apparently, not fully understanding the problem, Brown offered up a suggestion that inspired gasps throughout the hearing room.

    "Well, rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese, as I understand, it's a rather difficult language," said Brown. "Do you think it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?"

    When Ko told her how changing names is actually the problem instead of the solution, Brown tried to explain the reasoning behind her suggestion.

    "This is something that would make it a lot easier both for you and poll workers if there was some name you could adopt just for these identification purposes that would be easier for Americans to deal with," said Brown.

    Ko was actually not surprised by the remarks.

    "It just shows the stereotypes Asians face as a relatively small and new ethnic minority in the United States," said Ko.

    Ko confirmed that Brown's office called him after the Texas Democratic Party cried foul. Brown said she had called Ko to apologize.

    "We're ready to work with any of these people who are having problems and have them educate us on anything that might be going on that we're unaware of," said Brown.

    34 months ago

  • Tobi

    Dumbazz hicks

    34 months ago

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