A recent article on CNN's website discussed whether a child's name could have an impact on whether they would be a criminal. The article talks about a new study that will be published in the March issue of the Social Science Quarterly. The study aims to show that adolescent boys with unpopular names are more prone to find their way into the juvenile justice system than boys with popular names. Some of the names noted as being significantly more deliquent are: Ernest, Preston, Malcolm, Kareem and Tyrell; the names Michael and David were noted as being far less likely to be deliquent.
The study goes into greater detail on how our names affect our lives, but what caught my attention was the fact that the "unpopular" names all appeared to be names generally used by African-American parents for their kids. I'm wondering, is it the names that affect a young boy's predispostion to deliquency or is it societies profiling of a person based on their name???? For You To Ponder
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Clearly this is racial profiling. I will not allow myself to believe that naming my son Malcolm or Kareem will lead them to be a criminal. What I do believe is that society will label him as a criminal or more frequently suspect him of a crime because I've named him Malcolm or Kareem.
ReplyDeleteThat's funny, i'm pretty sure Barack is not a popular name and he's the President! Just because someone writes something in a study does not make it so.
ReplyDeleteSo if I name my kids rayray and dawaun they gonna be bank robbers? Man they just keep filling our heads with trash to try and change the way we live. Name your kids what you want and raise them right.
ReplyDeleteEveryday its a new way to try and put us on the bottom, they won't give up.
ReplyDeleteWhen educated people with high profile positions put out data such as what will be in the report, it helps those less educated folks justify being the ignorant racists that they are. I can think of many meaningful causes they could focus on instead of doing a study a whether a name will make you a criminal. Its sad that something like this makes headlines.
ReplyDeleteThe sad thing about studies like these it that it reinforces the negative sterotypes already associated with blacks.
ReplyDeleteWith all the crime and incurable diseases in the world you would think these people could put their efforts towards something other than studying our names.
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