My sister has a perfectly phonetic Cree name. It's beautiful. But she never gets called back from interviews, despite her extensive qualifications. Her most recent job is back on her home reserve. Know what the problem is?

I know a whole lot of behind-the-scenes info on that Adolf Hitler kid's family. DYFS did not remove the children for that reason, it was for abuse and domestic violence accusations. Since family court proceedings are kept confidential the shit stain of a father went ahead and spread stories that it was because of the…

Black names didn't become commonplace in the US until the Black Power movement in the 70s—then they exploded. Naming your child what is seen as a Black name is about teaching that child that it is okay to be who they are. It's about instilling in them a certain amount of pride in their culture—telling them that they…

Dude, this is some crazy reasoning right here. Maybe we should cave in to all types of racist thinking! Black people shouldn't wear hoodies, because we know how white people think about that. Black people shouldn't listen to rap music, because white people will think they are thugs. Hispanic people shouldn't name…

And you didn't call the authorities on your boss why now? That is wholly illegal and that person should not only have been thoroughly canned but also taken to court.

Maybe the problem you describe won't be changed by kids not having "ethnic" names (or whatever), but by white people being less racist douchbags. I'm not interested in telling people their names are the problem, because they aren't. Racists are the problem.

We should never, ever pander to racist assholes, no matter how trivial the matter. It's all part of the larger battle.

What was the fallout when you complained about her illegal discriminatory hiring practices to her superiors and the Labor Board?

There is legal precedent for changing names deemed abusive. But changing a name (which is actually a fairly common one, more common than my kids' names) because of religious bias is a violation of the family's rights.

I think it's the people involved's business, not anyone on the outside's. It's the business of the child and their parents. The parents are making this choice with their eyes open. That's what y'all aren't acknowledging. They know that they're discriminated against because of their race, and that any reminder of…

But it's not up to judge to decide that. Parents should deal with that and then kid when grows up can change it legally or never call himself like that if he woudn't like it. It's just a name. Even more so I think it was a racist decision.

Tyrone is actually Irish:

Sounds like you should be worried about the child's future employment prospects not because of his name but because of the color of his skin.

It doesn't really matter if you disagree with it, you don't have the right to impose your religion/armchair-opinion-of-what-constitutes-as-too-wacky on others as law. Don't name your own baby Messiah. That's really all the power you get in this situation.

Speaking of black-sounding names, I've wondered if my name combined with the college I graduated from have hurt my career chances because people think I'm black. (I'm actually white.) Not that I mind, because I don't want to work for racists anyway.

That is totally and completely illegal, you know.

Well, I guess the easiest route would be for all Hispanic people to change their last name to Smith or Anderson, then? Because your boss was a racist, people should just cede their identities, rather than remaining who they are and working to change the system?

People changing their behavior to be more "white" is just what the racists want, though.

I get what you're saying, but according to your own story, Messiah wouldn't get hired by this person regardless of his name. Because if "Martin" was called in for an interview, this horrible person wouldn't have hired him anyway.

Sooooo, really the problem is racist assholes and not the names people choose to give…

And I assume you stood up to your boss and demanded that she stop breaking the law? Or did you just quietly go about your business?