We don’t deserve Raven-Symoné. Raven-Symoné is a bottomless vessel of knowledge and truth, and we are blessed to have her with us on this green earth.
Today’s truth from #BlackTwitter’s favorite cousin is that your name having a whiff of “negrosity” in it justifies your not being afforded an employment opportunity. That’s just the way it is.
“I’m not about to hire you if your name is Watermelondrea,” she said on “The View.”
But wait a minute! Did she really just admit on national television that she discriminates based on ethnic-sounding names?
Despite laws against that particular form of discrimination, she absolutely did.
Raven-Symoné, whose name includes a non-utilized accent aigu, says she refuses to hire people with black-sounding names.
Raven-Symoné, whose girlfriend’s name, AzMarie, apparently wouldn’t fly well on a job application, says she refuses to hire people with ethnic-sounding names. The irony is not lost on me.
Also, she used the name “Watermelondrea” as an example.
Nothing more needs to be said here.
See, my name is Hannah. I’m pretty sure that when you hear the name Hannah, you think of some fair-skinned, flaxen haired maiden from the suburbs.
I’m actually a biracial babe who comes from one of the grittiest parts of New Orleans, where chewed up sunflower seeds were scattered across the porch and “Down for My N*****s” blared from our subwoofer.
The hood. I come from the hood. The ghetto.
But what if my name were LaQuondra or Monique or Khadijah?
Would that particular scene pop up in your head immediately? Be honest with me.
If I were named Watermelondrea Gammill, and I handed in a stellar resume that outshines Jennifer’s, would you pick Jennifer?
I’m asking because I’ve heard people say something along the lines of “Everybody’s a little prejudiced.”
And I have heard this very same line used in response to this disturbing episode of That’s So Raven. I won’t say everyone doesn’t have at least a hint of implicit bias, but it doesn’t make throwing away someone’s job application because of a mother-given name right, you guys.
If you are in fact a “little bit prejudiced,” address it, spray some Mean Green on it and scrub it away. It won’t disappear overnight, obviously, but baby steps are better than passivity.
It’s disturbing how something as innocuous as the name your mama gave you can do so much damage to your employability. Believe it or not, it happens.
I know because the National Bureau of Economic Research found in a study that the perception of race in a name on a résumé leads to job applicants with white-sounding names getting more callbacks than those with black-sounding names. Job applicants with white-sounding names only needed to send in 10 applications for one callback. People with black sounding names and the same qualifications? 15. It happens.
And it is, to be frank, not good.
Raven-Symoné can believe whatever she wants.
If she wants to pick Jennifer over Watermelondrea because one name is more respectable than the other, that’s fine because that is her right.
But she still needs someone to take that gratuitous French accent off her name and slap her with it.
