Why the closed cultures alter names thing made me so upset:
I’m not going to say what my real name is, obviously, but I will say this: my name is very important to me. It’s apart of my culture, and means so much to me. I was named it for a specific reason.
I’ve been made fun of for that name. I’ve been bullied, called slurs over it, to the point where I go by a nickname. Don’t get me wrong, I love that nickname very much! It’s just as culturally important to me as my real name, but it hurt me beyond belief that because of the bullying, I l had to go by that nickname.
Seeing white systems take names from cultures that they don’t belong to breaks my heart. Seeing them claim the names that all of us people of color have been mocked over is traumatizing. Seeing our culture being seen as an “aesthetic” or an “accessory” hurts so fucking badly.
I don’t think that you colonizers understand how important names are to different cultures. The thought, the time, and effort that is people of color go through to choose a name is very sacred, so when we see people appropriate our culture, we rightfully get upset. Our culture isn’t something for you to take because it’s “pretty” or something. It’s not fair that people of color have been bullied over our names, and for white people to take our culture from us.
It’s racism, plain and simple.
You can’t support people of color if you don’t challenge your thinking. You can’t support us if you can’t learn, change, and/or grow as a person.
You white people need to remember that just because very few people of color say it’s okay, doesn’t change the fact that minorities are hurt by it. It doesn’t change the fact that it destroys our culture, and takes away a vital connection that we have to our ethnicity.
If you support taking names from closed cultures, then you are not the ally you think you are.
You will never understand the struggles that we go through, so the least you could do is listen and support us.
[To everyone who sees this: Please reblog. White people can and should reblog this, just don’t add your own comments. Shut up and support us for once, instead of talking over us.]