in lak'ech ala k'in

somerset:

Life as a Middle Child: What is it with Ghetto Names

sumney:

I get it now.

All my life, I grew up being told that “black” names are ghetto and held by people who are likely to be trashy. If you know a girl named Laquisha, Latoya, Shaniqua, or Kelendria, she’s probably the neighborhood hoodrat, and even names like Tyrone and Tyrese are blacklisted in our society (pun intended). Statistically, it’s been proven that resumes and job applications that bear these names are more likely to go unread or end up in the trash can. [Translation: you’re less likely to be hired if you are obviously black.] 

But of course, names are alright if they are unquestionably mainstream (read: white) - Benjamin, Elizabeth, William, etc. Names are also fine if they are from a minority culture, as long as they are not identifiably a product of African-American culture; Alejandra, Lucia, Ivanka, Pierre, Elena, Boris, and Armando, are acceptable, exotic, and can even be beautiful. You might get teased on the playground, but your name is less likely to be a stigma or bad luck charm that follows you for the rest of your life.

When I worked at Hollister (not something I’m proud of), one of my white bosses was named Chanté. She told me how people were often surprised when they met her, and would say thinks like “you’re not black!” or “what a ghetto name for a little white girl!” Turns out, her name was French. Her family was French. But because Chanté has become such a popular name in the black American community, people have started to see it as ghetto. It’s losing its value because it’s associated with blackness.

A few weeks ago, I met a black girl named Shizuki. I immediately thought what an interesting ghetto name. I’m not exempt from prejudice. Such thoughts come to me once in a while, and I have to reprimand myself for upholding racist ideals instilled in me by American society. I asked her what her name meant, and she told me it was Japanese. Turns out, she was born in Japan and grew up there. Imagine how stupid I felt - and rightly so.

And now I suddenly understand why black names are frowned upon. Because things that are black, in this country, are ghetto. “Ghetto” is synonymous with poor, trashy, uncivilized, and ill-mannered. Because black names are ghetto, they are inherently ugly and unattractive, and names likes Tierra and Mo’nique (which I find aesthetically pleasing) will automatically be regarded as ugly. Simply put, the only reason why black names are bad… is because they are held by black people.

Your consciousness, your experience of Being, who you really are, is energy. We can call it “Life Energy” for now. This energy does not just live in your brain; it fills your entire body. Your consciousness is connected to every cell in your body. Through your consciousness, you can communicate with every organ and every tissue, and a number of therapies are based on this communication with the organs which have been affected by some kind of symptom or disorder.

This energy which is your consciousness, and which reflects your state of consciousness, can be measured through the process known as Kirlian photography. When you take a Kirlian photograph of your hand, it shows a certain pattern of energy. If you take a second photograph while imagining that you are sending love and energy to someone you know, there will be a different pattern of energy shown on the Kirlian photograph. Thus, we can see that a change in your consciousness creates a change in the energy field that is being photographed, which we call the aura.

This energy field shown in the Kirlian photographs has been quantified, so that when there are “holes” in particular parts of the energy field, these are said to correspond to particular weaknesses in specific parts of the physical body. The interesting thing about this is that the weakness shows up in the energy field before there is ever any evidence of it on the physical level.

Thus, we have an interesting direction of manifestation shown through what we have described.

1. A change of consciousness creates a change in the energy field.

2. A change in the energy field happens before a change in the physical body.

The direction of manifestation is from the consciousness, through the energy field, to the physical body.

 Consciousness—1—>Energy Field—2—>Physical Body

When we look at things in this way, we see that it is not the physical body creating the energy field, the aura, but rather the aura or energy field that is creating the physical body. What we see as the physical body is the end result of a process that begins with the consciousness.

~ Martin Brofman