Good Morning Tommy I know you were addressing Sharon, but I thought I jump in
and give my two cents.
First of all congratulations on the win---All of our teams were undefeated
until the lost to Howell. I was on vacation and did not attend the game but I
heard it was a good game.
The names are not new and not considered traditional. I named my daughters
what I thought was at the time unique names. I did not want the traditional
names like Denise, Sara, Amy, Joanne, Katie.
(Taniya,Tivona,Tamara,Tierra,Tayana) I wanted to be creative. If you look at
their names you see they all begin with T and end with a and they all have 6
letters. Their middle names are traditional (Michelle, Danielle)
In my opinion I think the next generation after me started naming
children after what they thought were muslims names with some adjustments .
Some also took traditional names and added letters to make it different for
instance Shawn became(Eshawn,DeShawn, DaShawn, MyShawn). Then some went in my
opinion overboard with names that probably made it hard for the child to
pronounce like Ashanasia, Ashaquasia then some names became probably like the
names you discovered on that list --only for the child to be given a nickname
that was easy to pronounce. Also the late 80-90's generation considered the
traditional names as slave names.
I don't think the idea was to be as you say deliberately separate because I
would say to you what makes the names like Tommy and Denise, Concetta right and
the names like Ashanasia, DaShawn, Chiquetta wrong. Generations have their own
trends. What we thought was right in our younger years is not what is
considered right to today. Most young people have they're own mindset these
days that's why you now see spiked hair-, you see the gothic look, you see the
pants hanging off. Do I agree with the new trends no. But you also have seen
the comeback of pedal pushers(capri pants) mini dresses , penny loafers.
But at the same time a certain name has hurt some people. Someone could have a
master's degree and have graduated at the top of her class but because her name
on the application for employment was Shamika she was never even considered for
the job.
I grew up with Sharon's children even though they are a couple of years younger
than myself I also grew up with James(Butch) Butler who lived around the block
from me even though he was older. I also went to school with John Loffredo
sister.
I grew up in Belmar then Neptune now Asbury Park. What is going on in any
community right now. I work in Freehold and it used to be that when you heard
a car pulling up besides you in traffic blasting rap music with the base so
strong you could feel your heart beating in your chest I thought it would have
be an young African American, but instead it was a young White American. The
younger generation are coming together more, I also see young kids of all
colors walking around with their pants hanging off so it is not just in the
black community. I just recently came from Disney they have booths that charge
to put cornrows and beads in your hair which traditionally started in the black
community.
So what must we do! Can we hang on and hope the trends will soon change again?
________________________________
From: justifiedright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, October 27, 2008 7:26:48 PM
Subject: [AsburyPark] Re: OMG - WTF - Again !
--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED] ups.com, "sharon_b283" <sharon_b283@ ...>
wrote:
> Glenn 46, Darren 45, Angele 43, Michelle 41, Renee 37! See, not a
> Shamika or Hussein in the bunch!
Wow Sharon I'm glad you brought that up about "Shamika." Something
happened recently and I hope you'll bring your considerable insight
to bear on it, first as an American, and second as an African
American.
My friend and I were calling the Asbury-Howell game from the booth.
Both of us grew up in AP and live in Howell so we were excited.
When it came time to call the Asbruy Park cheerleaders, a nice woman
came up to the booth with the list. She said, "Do you want me to
read these names over the loud speaker?"
I knew she thought we would be uncomfortable with the first names.
We wanted her to feel comfortable so we told her we were both from
AP and probably knew some of the families (we did) so we could
handle the names.
She gave me the list. I have to tell you, there was no first name I
had ever heard of before. This was well beyond "Shamika."
One name I knew I couldn't handle, and asked her for help. She
looked at it and admitted that she couldn't say it either. She had
to make a cell phone call for the pronunciation.
My friend ran through the listover the loud speaker and did a
perfect job with the names.
It made me realize that I may have just experienced a bit of culture
clash.
As an Italian, I come from people who changed their names to sound
more American. Many of my cousins used their American middle
names. My own sister didn't know her real name was Concetta until
she got her working papers.
The names I saw that night were definately not African. I think
they are new and not traditional (I could be wrong).
Can you give me some insight into what's going on in Asbury Park's
Black Community?
Is the ideal to be deliberately seperate?
Am I right that your generation didn't share that view?
I know its a touchy subject, but I hope I'm being respectful and
asking to learn.
Can you help me with your thoughts?
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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