A recent NPR article examining the lack of publication of Chinese scientists with cultural names has sparked a discussion over “name racism.” “The disparity was most pronounced for authors with East Asian and African names; they were on average mentioned or quoted about 15% less in U.S. science media relative to those with Anglo names,” reveals Hao Peng. 

This article titled, “Which scientists get mentioned in the news? Mostly ones with Anglo names, says study”, written by Peng, was produced to shed light on the hesitation behind highlighting cultural names in public studies. Peng tells the story of her friend, a biologist of Asian descent, who participated in groundbreaking scientific research but received no credit for his attributions. 

This phenomenon is nothing new; it has been around for centuries as a result of colorism. It has even spread as bias within the employment system, causing candidates with names associated with a particular race or denounced as difficult to pronounce, to have a harder time finding jobs. 

“Our names are inextricably bound to our sense of identity and self,” writes Cecilia Huang, author of “More than a name: Parenting, cultural identities and baby naming.” Names are ways of reminding us of the ways  cultures persist and influence us. Picking a name for a child is a sacred practice, so why does such a timeless practice lead to such a difficult life? 

It is directly due to the inability to acknowledge or drop unconscious bias. Unconscious bias is defined as hidden prejudice that is attributed to our prior knowledge of a particular race or group. These biases can follow us within our daily lives and determine how we treat those around and in reference to us.

Although unconscious biases are not often pointed out, they follow us everywhere. For instance, doctors continue to believe the myth that black patients do not feel as much pain as their white counterparts. This myth stems directly from slavery, where black people became unethical test subjects in white experiments. In fact, the article “Some medical students still think black patients feel less pain than whites” by Ike Swetlitz conducted a study to test the credibility of this theory. 

Swetlitz found that, in a survey of 222 white medical students and residents, “about half endorsed false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites.” This falsity has cost the lives of black patients, pushing them to severely painful processes and misdiagnosing them all together.  

These unconscious biases prove that inequality in America is undeniably real and stem from our faulty misinterpretation of those around us. These changes cannot be made overnight but speak volumes of our own personalities and interactions with those who are different from us. If there is a change you want to make, start with your own. 

Photo by:  Heiner via Pexels