Jackson Free Press

Boneqweesha Jones and the Ghetto Science Repertory Theater present a sneak preview of the stage play "Colored Folk Who Considered Changing Their Ethnic Sounding Names When the Corporations Wouldn't Hire Them."

Barufa (pronounced: Ba-Roof-Fah): "Back in the day, my best friends teased me about my name—Barufa Shawnte Jackson. I recall Aisha, Lucretia and Shaniqua using my name in that old ghetto house party chant: 'Ba-Roofa! Ba-Roofa! Ba-Roofa's on fire! We don't need no water.' I have a BA in English and a masters in political science. I really wanted that PR job listed in the newspaper. I thought my phone interview was great. Oh well. No job for me because my name sounds too ghetto; that hurts me more than being teased about my name."

DeMarcus (pronounced Dee-Mar-Cuss): "Five companies have turned me down this year. It seems as if companies and corporations equate my name with underachievement. The rules on the playing field of integration have changed again. And with my name (DeMarcus Kwame Johnson), I'm like a baseball player in the middle of a football game. In this country, are success and achievement based on the content of your name, or the content of your character?"

Barufa: "Well Demarcus, at least your family didn't give you the name Sue."

Demarcus: "You remember that song 'A Boy Named Sue?'"

Barufa: "Yes, I do, my brotha! So, our names should make us strong, just like that boy named Sue."

DeMarcus: "Amen, sista!"

Ken Stiggers is a television producer in Jackson.

Previous Comments

ID

70177

Comment

I can relate to this. My first name is Latasha, and I can visualize resumes being thrown in the trash after seeing my name. Even if my name was Jill, I can't hide. I went to Jackson Public Schools, and I graduated from Tougaloo College. It gets hard when, on occasion, people keep calling me Latonya, Latoya, Letitia, La-whatever, especially when you've told them several times what your name is. Even when I tell them to just call me Tasha, they call me Tonya. UGH! Out of four kids, I'm the one with the ethnic name. It took me time to enjoy the beauty of it, and some people even told me they thought it was pretty. Complements do help, I must admit.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2005-06-25T22:05:15-06:00

ID

70178

Comment

Ken, I saw you on Channel 18. I loved your poem about the old car. You're the bomb.

Author

Lanise

Date

2005-06-26T11:14:39-06:00

ID

70179

Comment

L.W., I can relate. Most think I'm female for whatever reasons and you can sense the shock when I answer the phone with a masculine voice. I've also had many interviewers turn me off when they asked my heritage (which is a major "no-no" during an interview) with questions like "Where'd your name come from?" or "Where's your family from?". I've also heard of many people trashing resumes because of "names" and think it's a trashy act (pardon the pun). At least, in many people's heads, Latasha is easy to spell. I still have people that cannot spell my name properly but receive emails from me daily (with the correct spelling in the From field and signed in the email). Part of of me thinks they do it to get under my skin since they often spell it Knoll (a small hill -- not a flattering thing if you ask me). I hated my name as a child... Of course, I went to a private, Chrisitan school full of Davids, Johns, Marks, Pauls, and Jeffs. The only people with "strange" names were me and the foreign exchange students. I now embrace it and know the history of my name and how it came to be... Just don't call me Noel or Noah. EGAD! I could go on and on about hating Christmas and rainy days, as a young person, because of my name...

Author

kaust

Date

2005-06-26T13:37:27-06:00

ID

70180

Comment

Knol, I think some people just don't pay attention when replying to emails anyway. When I was at SkyTel, they usually got my name right. Sometimes they would spell it as LaTasha instead of Latasha, but I gave up on that fight a long time ago. What is the nationality of your name, anyway?

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2005-06-26T19:22:13-06:00

ID

70181

Comment

I hear you on LaTasha vs Latasha. I've made that mistake a time or two. Roots of my name are German based off my grandmother's, parent's last name.... Kind of an homage to a family name that ended with with my grandmother and her sisters.

Author

kaust

Date

2005-06-27T06:45:00-06:00