Is Mispronouncing My Name Racist?

A response to The Racist History of Mispronouncing Names

Photo by Matthias Wagner on Unsplash

Three days ago, this tweet by KUOW Public Radio started gaining a lot of attention due to its provocative message:

Many people are angrily quoting the article in total disagreement. The two main arguments seem to be:

1. mispronouncing someone's name is not racist
2. white people also get their names mispronounced; it’s not a race thing

Existing as a Mexican-American woman named Lucero Cantu, I felt like it was time to weigh in.

First, let’s get their argument straight

Clicking on the link will take you to a 14-minute podcast hosted by Zuheera Ali and Keya Roy. I can tell by their voices that they’re pretty young, this is further evidenced when they talk about substitute teachers mispronouncing their names.

The podcast talks about the difficulties they have navigating day to day situations with their names, then they bring in Ijeoma…