Mayor John Giles: "Butchering A Name" ...Amen to That!

Taking the time to learn a name is a sign of respect and acknowledgement of the person’s identity. Many Americans - including Hizzoner John Giles the mayor of our city - have been conditioned to think that nothing other than English is worth pronouncing. This includes people’s names that are not necessarily within the American standard. They usually have a difficult time with non-European names and minority names. . . .but even when told how to pronounce someone's name, what's the excuse?

Looks like John Giles really needs to get that message when he messes up the name of the person for the opening invocation at Monday's Mesa City Council meeting, ". . . I'm sorry Pastor, even though you told me how to pronounce your name ,  I butchered it. " 

Hizzoner's Mess-up starts half-a-minute into this uploaded streaming video just before the Reverend Dr. Brooke's Invocation

City Council Meeting - 5/20/2019

Views: 111 at time of upload to this blog today

Duration: 54:57



There is also a notion that those who choose not to pronounce the name are “bad at names.” It should not matter if someone is bad at articulating names. Taking the time to learn a name is a sign of respect and acknowledgement of the person’s identity
Names hold power, and by denying a person the right to at least have their name attempted to be spoken correctly is denying them agency to themselves.


LINK to City Council Regular Meeting > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF1h4xhf6NE