The importance of a name is demonstrated in the time parents
dedicate to naming their children. This
is especially true with African American parents. Unlike others America we seek more than a
four letter word for a name for our children.
We use the creativity that is ours, and produce names that say you are
not like everyone else. You are an
individual. You can be different. You have independence. You are important.
When I replied to the question of a fellow White employee
asking me my name, she replied that sounds made up. I replied it took thought and creativity to
come up with more than four letters.
Most White Americans do say it is a pretty name.
I say all this in leading up to the naming of us a people ever
since we were unloaded from the ships. The
process of naming us has played an important role in our positioning here in
America. First it was lowering in that
the names were given to us by those who oppressed us. Therefore the names are oppressing. Also first it was a renaming that took away
our sense of self, history and identity, especially with our motherland. Second as freedom was taken and denied, our naming
coincided. As we supposedly graduated in
position so did our naming. Now we
approach the recent naming and the under the current of Post-Civil Rights Reconstruction
Era.
