The ignorance of State Rep. Betty Brown and those who think like her

My ex-wife gave her first-born son (from a marriage before ours) a rather unwieldy name, but one that she was very proud off because it was highly unusual and it contained an umlaut and other phonetic aides. He hated it and as soon as he was old enough to do so he changed it to something more comfortable. I remember my ex-wife being initially disturbed about this (I never heard how her first husband, who carried the family name that was being wiped out, felt) and in a telephone conversation I had with her about it I tried to explain that a name is the most personal possession its bearer owns. I think she thought a lot about this in the ensuing days after our conversation and she not only came around to agree with me, but she announced she was changing her first name to reflect her interest in Spanish cultures.

I mention all this only because it goes to say how incensed I was at the remarks made by state Rep. Betty Brown during Wednesday's testimony in the House Committee Elections on the Voter ID bill. Her remarks, her incredible insensitivity, sum up all the reasons I oppose this discriminatory legislation. I waited a couple of days to reflect on this because I wanted my anger to subside so that I might see if any good could come from it. And perhaps some good has: Her remarks have attracted nationwide attention, has unmasked the Voter ID bill and those who support it for what it is and who they are and may be the very thing that derails this legislation.

For those who don't know what I am talking about, let me try to re-create the scene. Rep. Brown asked a man of Asian ancestry, who was testifying against the bill, to disown his family name so it would be easier for ignorant people like Rep. Brown to deal with. Specifically, she told Mr. Ramey Ko:

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?

Those are her exact words. Like I said earlier "a name is the most personal possession its bearer owns." It's that person's life story, his or her heritage. To ask someone to just give it up because it was make it easier on some ego-centric elected official or anyone else, for that matter, is unconscionable. And above all, it should not be used as an excuse to deny someone the right to vote.

But this is the type of thinking that's going into the Voter ID bill.