This article reminded me of the chapter in Freakanomics that talks about naming kids, race and socioeconomic success. And there have been a boatload of older studies about resumes with distinctly black names not getting callbacks for interviews. So, imagine if Obama was only able to submit his resume (which is admittedly thin) and never be seen. He wouldn’t have been able to use his superior marketing, organizational efforts and silver tongue to get elected. Also, we never would’ve known he was a light skinned black and not a dark skinned black. (Btw, I never realized until now that that was Julian Bond interviewing Garret Morris in that skit.) Most voters would’ve only seen his resume and recoiled at his decidedly African and Arabic name. But in reality, nobody did that…
What’s in a name?
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