Romney's Grandson, Kieran

[michigan girl]

I am not sure which is more insulting and offensive to African Americans: having your adopted African-American grandson (1) dressed in pink, front and centered, in the family photo (scroll down to the bottom in the link, the girls are dressed in pink and the boys are dressed in blue) or (2) literally named "black" or  "dark-skinned" or "little black one" in Gaelic?

 

Mitt Romney's family should be ashamed of themselves.

 

According to sites BabyNames and ThinkBabyNames, “Kieran” means “black” or “dark”. Nice. Glad to know that the Romney family appropriately named the newest member of their family, just in case it wasn’t obvious to everyone that he’s black.

 

 

http://www.rickey.org/mitt-romneys-grandsons-name-literally-black-romney/

Edited January 6, 2014 by michigan girl

[ereissoup]

What's wrong with pink?

[LittleDarlings]

I don't see any problem.  I think it was a cute picture, and I can't see how anyone could be offended by such an adorable family.  

[michigan girl]

Look up the name "Ciaran" in Wikipedia. After that step, then you can see why some may think applying the name to the child could be seen as offensive.

[pqo309]

History turns full circle and the left is reduced to a ceaseless witch hunt, this time for racists.

 

This has nothing to do with a name and all to do with pure hatred. Go away - this forum doesn't need your vitriol.

[silver_lining]

I second the notion to have this thread closed. It shouldn't have been started in the first place. Not related to grad school in any manner. 

[Eigen]

And this forum is for general discussions, not necessarily for matters pertaining to grad school. 

 

Unless people cross lines in their posts (the last two are coming fairly close) we're not about censoring topics or ideas around here. That's kinda antithetical to the idea of academic freedom. 

[ajaxp91]

Thank you for responding so quickly, Eigen! 

 

I definitely respect your stance. Naturally, I wasn't trying to be a proponent of strict censorship, but was instead worried about where this discussion may inevitably lead. So long as you and the other kind moderators are responsive if things get rocky, I'm happy regardless. Thanks again.

[LittleDarlings]

I looked up the name but I honestly doubt that the Romney family went out of their way to name the child this knowing it could be found offensive.   I just feel like they did something good by adopting this child (I haven't read up on the childs background but obviously he came from a family that couldn't/didn't want to keep him) I just see the good in that.  I don't see it as a publicity stunt or something done maliciously.  

[MadtownJacket]

Someone's got an agenda.

[klondike]

Not to open up a can of worms....(and not directly related to the name. As a white person, I will not speculate on the in- or -appropriateness of such things)

 

....but we could talk about the legitimate concerns about the disproportionately disreputable means by which not-white babies wind up in the adoption process, and acknowledge that this broader issue is not at all uncomplicated (with special understanding that this is a very public family who, even indirectly, risk being associated with racism [with regard to the party as a whole and the vitriol displayed by Republicans during that election]).

 

http://the-toast.net/2013/10/04/adopting-baby-veronica/

 

http://mybrownbaby.com/2011/08/transracial-families-why-white-people-adopt-black-children/

 

http://www.newsweek.com/what-adopting-white-girl-taught-one-black-family-77335

 

Edit: not that I know anything about Kieran or his birth parents. Just pointing out that the situation itself is not necessarily so simple, broadly put.

Edited January 6, 2014 by klondike

[danieleWrites]

One branch of my family is Black Irish. The term Black Irish has been used as an insult, and it's also been used as a common name for a phenotype.

I'm wondering if I should be mortally offended because someone used an Irish name for a non-Irish person, or because someone finds Irish names offensive, or if someone thinks phenotype-based naming schemes are inherently racist, or because someone thinks that Kieran is a bad name for anyone who isn't sparkly white. Actually, I'm offended that a bunch of English descendents would think that it's appropriate to use an Irish name. Seriously. Do they not realize how offensive it is to steal a person's cultural heritage while they're also still stealing a person's ancestral land and oppressing a person's people?

I'm so glad I wrote in the Godzilla-Mothra ticket in 2012.

[PsycD]

[Queen of Kale]

I'm also Black Irish on one side of my family and we have plenty of Ciarans in my family tree.  Unlike, danieleWrites, I never thought of the term as insulting so much as a cop-out.  In many cases the term 'Black Irish' is used as a euphemism for "your people messed around with gypsies".  It's certainly been proven to be the case in my family tree once people looked into it & now that the older generation who were ashamed of it are deceased we basically have stopped even using the term 'Black Irish' except to describe the phenotype, as opposed to denoting some implied ancestry.

 

As to the original post by Michigan Girl, the problem I see with pointing fingers  is that "we judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behavior" (the famous Stephen Covey quip).  We just don't have, or will ever have, enough information to judge the intentions behind this adoption/name/photo.  And it doesn't matter IMHO if we ever do.  There are enough other issues which are systemic, fixable, and quantifiable problems which we can focus our attentions and efforts on fixing.  There's no reason to squander our energies on this sort of did-she/did-he amorphous maybe-offensive crap.  (Again, just IMHO)

[DeafAudi]

Err, I'm white and my name is derived from the Greek word "blackness" or "dark". Kieran is a popular name at the moment and I sincerely doubt the Romneys meant anything by choosing it for their son. That said, ADORABLE baby! 

[spectastic]

can't believe everything you read these days.

[PsycD]

And what exactly is the problem here??? 

 

Unless he's wearing a t-shirt that says "Congratulations! We are please to offer you admission, PsycD...," he can be dressed in bubble wrap, a blue tutu, and named Dragonfly Jones for all I care.