TX Republican says Asians should change their names

Not sure if I should laugh or cry! It is too funny to be real, but sadly such ignorance is live and well in our country. For sure, I do miss Texas politics.
Some Republicans are still wondering why they lost the elections so badly. Hello!!

With "spokespeople" like Rep. Bettty Brown, Republicans don't need Democrats to defeat them.

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Lawmaker defends comment on Asians

Call for voters to simplify their names not racially motivated, Terrell Republican says

By R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle

April 9, 2009, 11:58AM

For the Chronicle

Rep. Betty Brown, R-Terrell, made the remark during House testimony on Tuesday.

AUSTIN — A North Texas legislator during House testimony on voter identification legislation said Asian-descent voters should adopt names that are “easier for Americans to deal with.”

The comments caused the Texas Democratic Party on Wednesday to demand an apology from state Rep. Betty Brown, R-Terrell. But a spokesman for Brown said her comments were only an attempt to overcome problems with identifying Asian names for voting purposes.

The exchange occurred late Tuesday as the House Elections Committee heard testimony from Ramey Ko, a representative of the Organization of Chinese Americans.

Ko told the committee that people of Chinese, Japanese and Korean descent often have problems voting and other forms of identification because they may have a legal transliterated name and then a common English name that is used on their driver’s license on school registrations.

Easier for voting?

Brown suggested that Asian-Americans should find a way to make their names more accessible.

“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?” Brown said.

Brown later told Ko: “Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?”

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