By another name — why we African-Americans can’t ‘forget’ slavery

We African-Americans are often admonished, generally by those on the political right, to forget our roots in slavery and merely focus on the future. This has become more of an issue due to a small but growing movement toward monetary reparations for those of us descended from slaves.

But there’s a reason we can’t forget those days: Our very names.

Have you noticed that the vast majority of surnames in the African-American community have their origin in the British Isles? (Mine is Irish.) There’s a reason for that — when we were brought here from western Africa we had our cultures, customs and languages stripped from us, so we ended up taking what was “given” to us. Not for nothing did the former Malcolm Little, the Nation of Islam leader, replace his last name with an X. (And recall that early in the TV miniseries “Roots,” protagonist Kunta Kinté had his African name literally beaten out of him, the master forcing him to adopt “Toby.”)

What that means in practice is that we don’t have an “old country,” similar to the Southern Europeans, primarily Italians and Slavs who of course were mostly Roman Catholic, who arrived on these shores after the Civil War ended. And while they usually did embrace American ideals, they were never forced to abandon their respective cultures the way we were — and still are. That discrimination often manifests itself in employment, with surveys showing that résumés with African-sounding names receive fewer job interviews, let alone offers.

In other words, while it's OK for some people to remember their history, ours is considered taboo. It shouldn't be — just consider our names.