How White People Subtly Reinforce White Supremacy When They Laugh at Black Names

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124. when I worked in low income city schools, I was joking with an Afr. American student whose name

is John. He was an older student who had a great sense of humor. I said, John, your name is John but all these other students are Taneisha, Tanika, Rayona, Rayeisha, Lonika, Malika, Deonte, Keonte, Keyana, etc. How did you get a name like John? He laughed and added more names of students he knows. We were about to walk into a classroom and there was another student at the door. We introduced ourselves and asked the student's name. She replied, "Keyoneisha." John and I burst out laughing and then explained to the other student why. She did not appear to take offense and laughed along with us.

Was that a racist conversation? We were laughing at the incongruity between John's name and the other students' names. We weren't making fun of anyone or anyone's name.