Why Black Kids Cant Find Their Names On License Plates (Or Coffee Mugs, Or Keychains, Or Necklaces....)

What's in a name? Really, what is in a name? My first name is Duane. As a kid I hated my name because I thought it sounded corny or dare I even say "white". I wondered why my parents didn't name me something "cool" like JaQuan, or Tyrell or DeShawn. Why was I cursed with such a boring name? My whole life I've preferred my closest friends to call me by my middle name, Calvin. Ironically Calvin isn't even my real middle name, it's actually Kelvin but I never corrected anyone because I thought Calvin sounded cooler.
            But a funny thing happened after my father passed away; I started to embrace my first name. I was named after my father. (I have to say that there is no feeling in the world scarier than seeing your name on a tombstone) My family believes that it is important to know about your past and carry on a strong tradition for the future, which brings me to my point. For generations black people have been giving their children unique sounding names which originally was intended as a way to seperate themselves from white people. This is a symptom of what is known as Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome. Black people felt that they would feel a greater sense of internal freedom if they "freed" themselves from "slave names".
            But somewhere along the line it went from liberation to straight up ignorance. The video shown in this post is an exaggeration (albeit a very funny one) of the kinds of names that black people are giving their children nowadays. In the book Freakonomics a study of black children born in California in the 1990's showed that most children with these kinds of names were birthed by young, single, uneducated mothers living in low income communities. Because they are so young they believe that it is cute to give their child a name that is difficult to pronounce. I was once told a story about a young girl who wanted to name her child Al-Qaeda. Seriously.
            I have a friend who named her daughter Camille, which is a beautiful name. She once told me that she did not want her child to be unfairly judged or discriminated against because of her name. That when she fills out applications for college, she will be given a fair advantage. This got me thinking. I'm 1000% positive that anyone who names their child Bonquisha or Sha Nay Nay is not thinking about this. Camille's mother is already thinking about college. Bonquisha's mother is most likely thinking about how cute her newborn baby will look in the latest pair or newborn Air Jordan's. (Why the fuck do they even make newborn Air Jordan's anyway???) See the differnce in the frames of mind?
            I came across a study in the book Freakonomics (I really like this book, can you tell? Lol) where two resumes with the exact same skills and qualifications were sent out to 100 different employers. The only difference were the names; Jake Williams and DeShawn Williams. The study said that Jake Williams was twice as likely to get a callback simply because of name recognition alone. Camille is a universal name. You cannot tie it to any race. You cannot tell if Camille is Black, White, Hatian or Cape Verdian without meeting her. (Camille is actually born to a Cape Verdian mother and an African American father) These young parents are not thinking about the futures of their children.
            My daughter's first name is Myonna which is unique but not ghetto, although I wanted her first name to be Audrey which is her middle name. She has to constantly correct people on the proper way to pronounce her name which does bother me. I was 19 and her mother was 18 when she was born. I guess what is more important than what your child is named is what type of environment he or she is brought up in. But will young parents begin to think about the future in the long term sense as opposed to the short term? Or will their underdeveloped minds continue to be stuck in the here and now?