Roberto Montoya, M.A. - PowerPoint Presentation

Roberto Montoya, M.A.Founder and CEO Praximity Group|Manager of Diversity and Engagement| City and County of Denver Monica Williams, M.B.A.President and Co-Founder of TIED Leadership Roundtable|Director of Equity and Inclusion| City and County of Denver  The Pride and Prejudice of Names

AgendaIntroductionsActivityCreating a name narrative The Pride of namesThe Prejudice of namesName awareness

IntroductionsDo you like your name? Does it fit you? Do you have a nickname? If you could change your name, have/would you? To what? If family name or naming tradition, have you carried it on/do you plan to carry it on?

What’s in a name?Activity

How do we get our names?

My Name Narrative

Facundo The Great

The Pride

The Familial Importance of Names "When we chose our daughters’ names we wanted to give them something that they could carry with them, something that they could use as strength, as home, in a world that might not always nurture them as we would want it to. We gave them Nahuatl names. We gave them names that were hundreds of years old that carried with them the prayers of their great grandmothers. Names that represented their own spirits, but that also manifested the spirit of their people," (p. 1)Source: Kohli, R., & Solórzano, D. G. (2012). Teachers, please learn our names!: Racial microagressions and the K-12 classroom. Race Ethnicity and Education, 15(4), 441-462.

The Prejudice

Substitute Teacher - Key & Peele

36% White applicants receive 36% more callbacks than equally qualified African Americans while White applicants receive on average 24% more callbacks than Latinos

Is there any evidence of name discrimination in the legal system?

The Name Narrative Personal and organizational change best takes place with an inside-out process that begins with these commitments: Examine your own values, assumptions, and behaviorsWork with your peers to examine institutional policies and proceduresBe an integral part of the community you serve by learning with and from them The Name Narrative is one tool, that uses the inside-out process, for teaching individuals to explore their names and their linkages to their family’s cultural and racial roots, thereby gaining agency in talking about race, ethnicity, identity, and culture and becoming more racially conscious.

Identity Cues in NamesGenderEthnicity Race Languages Geography Birth OrderIntergenerational Linkages Marital Status Religion Cultural and Racial Assimilation Resistance To Assimilation Mestizaje or Intermarriage Native / Indigenous Ancestry Folk Legends “Americanization,” Imposed or Chosen Pronunciation / Spelling Political / Ideological Choices Racial / Cultural Ambiguity of Appearance Melded Family Stories Tribute or Honoring Rituals Literary Influences Family naming traditions

Name Awareness: Identity Cues and Clues VisibleGender, race, ethnicity, Native or Indigenous identity Sometimes visible Religion, marital status, cultural/racial assimilation, mixed race, “Americanization” Audible Language, accents, resistance to assimilation, political or ideological choices, pronunciation and spelling Family-related Race, ethnicity, Native/Indigenous identity, birth order, inter-generational links, religion Government-related Gender, race, ethnicity, Native/Indigenous identity, marital status, languages, accents, political identity

Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street (1991) "In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. . . .  It was my great-grandmother’s name and now it is mine. . . . I am always Esperanza. I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees. Esperanza as Lisandra or Maritza or Zeze the X. Yes. Something like Zeze the X will do.” (pp. 10-11)

Story Telling & Story Listening SkillsDon’t interrupt a storyListen! Try not to think about what you are going to sayDon’t interrogate or rebut someone’s story Stories are recursive – a detail told by someone might remind you of something about your story, if we had time, we’d go around a second time and allow you to revise/add to your storyShare only what you are comfortable/able to shareFeel free to pass if you don’t want to tell your story – judgment-free zoneBe aware of time – name narratives have long and short versions

Name Narrative Videohttps://vimeo.com/63294353

Why is the Name Narrative exercise important? Strengthening racial/ethnic identity enhances individual and collective skill sets Name stories with racial analysis helps connect our school/work lives with our home lives Working with people from different backgrounds and identities makes you smarter

“Race thought is never easy – it is full of tension, ripe with contradictions, and needs all the help it can recruit. The analysis should be as complex as the topic itself’ (Leonardo, 2013, p. xv). “

Etienne, M. (2005). Pain and Race: A New Understanding of Race Based Sentencing Disparities. U. St. Thomas LJ, 3, 496. Delgado Bernal, D., Burciaga, R., & Flores Carmona, J. (2012). Chicana/Latina testimonios: Mapping the methodological, pedagogical, and political. Equity & excellence in education , 45(3), 363-372. Freire, P. (1996). Pedagogy of the oppressed (revised).  New York: Continuum . Leonardo, Z. (2013). Race frameworks: A multidimensional theory of racism and education. Teachers College Press . Murphy, C. E. (1988). Racial discrimination in the criminal justice system. NC Cent. LJ, 17, 171. Montoya, M. E. (1994). Mascaras, trenzas , y grenas : Un/masking the self while un/braiding Latina stories and legal discourse. Chicano-Latino L. Rev ., 15, 1. Sánchez, M. E. (1985).  Contemporary Chicana poetry: A critical approach to an emerging literature . Univ of California Press. Valdez, L. (2004).  Pensamiento serpentino . Alexander Street Press. https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2015/demo/p25-1143.pdf https://testimoniofinalproject.wordpress.com/2014/05/19/how-to-make-a-testimonio-successful/ References

Mil gracias! Questions? You can contact us a:t roberto.montoya@praximitygroup.com monica.Williams@flydenver.com