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Have you ever enthusiastically endorsed an African American or Latina colleague's work and noted how articulate she is? She's quite impressive, she really is. You're surprised to learn that Maria, whom you hold in high regard, did not feel complimented but rather was a bit put off -- maybe even offended -- that you called her articulate. You pride yourself on your wordsmithing abilities and consult your dictionary. Articulate is a perfectly good word. And now, you're offended that Maria is offended. Just when did the word articulate take on a negative connotation? Good Grief! CUT! Time to take a deep breath and read Adam Smyer's Book, You Can Keep That to Yourself: A Comprehensive List of What Not to Say to Black People, for Well-Intentioned People of Pallor. I laughed so hard reading the advance copy that it prompted my spouse to walk into the room: “What’s so funny, I could use a good laugh too.” Can't we all. So, here's a sneak preview of page one of this smart and humorous compendium. HELLO, WELL-INTENTIONED PERSON OF PALLOR! It's Daquan—the black coworker you are referring to when you claim to have black friends. You are reading this book because you want to know what not to say. They get mad at you when you say the wrong thing. But no one will tell you, up front, what not to say. Well, I will tell you. Because I am your friend. Your real black friend. I didn't laugh at every entry in the book and even squirmed at several, recalling when I've used these words. And one or two caused me to say, "ah, come on Adam, I have to stop saying that?" Decolonizing our minds requires us to have honest heart to heart talks in mixed company about words and expressions that cause us to bristle, even if People of Pallor don't notice. Here's a sampling of Daquan's list of words and phrases he's telling you to keep to yourself: Ally. Grandfathered. I Don't See Color. I Don't Care if You're Purple. Reverse Racism. Zepplin. But why you ask? Come find out during what's sure to be a lively conversation with Adam Smyer on Wednesday, September 2nd at 4:30 (Pacific Time). Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn sponsors this event, and I'm so excited to be part of Adam's virtual book tour. Register here to receive the zoom link. Adams's web site has an entertaining three-minute PSA on the home page, check it out. And that's where you'll find the links to order the book from Akashic Books, the publisher, and other sources. It is set to be released on September 1st. A few words about Adam Smyer's first book, Knucklehead which I read a couple of years ago and have gifted it to numerous friends. I highly recommend you read it. The protagonist Marcus Hayes is a young African American lawyer working in a blue-chip San Francisco law firm. Did I mention that Adam is also a lawyer? Marcus is sarcastic and hilarious. His keen eye and expertly honed BS meter are enormously entertaining. And his anger is palpable and frightening. Oops. Angry is on the You Can Keep It To Yourself list, so let me rephrase that. Marcus is mad as hell. With good reason. The novel is set in NYC and the Bay Area and takes place over a decade-plus (with some flashbacks). These touchstone events ground us: the beating of Rodney King and the acquittal of the white LAPD officers, the trial of OJ Simpson and television crews at Howard University taking the pulse of students as the world awaits the jury verdict. Other major events are the Oklahoma City Bombing and The Million Man March in Washington. Although I read the book two years ago, I listened to Knucklehead on audible this past week, and the pain and rage of the protagonist is harder to bear today. Police brutality and other forms of violence that stem from anti-blackness and the hatred stoked against Latinx immigrants (and those of us perceived as immigrants from shit-hole countries) are front and center in the news each day. Who can look away from the immigrant children in cages, the grieving families of the 46 people gunned down (23 killed) on a Saturday morning buying groceries and back to school supplies at a Walmart in El Paso? The weekly news stories of police shootings (some before our very eyes) of black men and women, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and now Jacob Blake. The list of names feels endless. Sometimes my heart hurts so much; I fear it might explode. Words and language create our reality, and what comes out of our mouth matters. It really does. Adam and I have lots to talk about on Wednesday, September 2nd, check your time zone so you can calendar it appropriately. Money-back guarantee you'll be glad you joined. 4:30 Pacific 5:30 Mountain 6:30 Central 7:30 Eastern Register here to get your zoom link.

Kamala, like a comma (the punctuation mark) with a la at the end. That's the helpful hint Senator Kamala Harris offers people when she tells them how she pronounces her name. And since the mispronunciation of people's names is my number one pet peeve (and I have many), I decided to do a short and sweet Stairwell Episode and Blog on the correct pronunciation of Vice-Presidential nominee Kamala Harris' name. Although I know how she pronounces her name, I checked a few articles on the very topic. I came across a delightful twitter ad that ran during her Senate Campaign in 2017 in which a rainbow coalition of kids tell us the wrong and right way to say her name. It's well worth watching, And this article in Marie-Claire provides a bit of information about Kamala's name and references the 2017 kids campaign ad. If you haven't yet watched it, take a 19-second detour from your reading. I promise it will put a smile on your face, and you'll remember how to say Kamala hereafter. The New Yorker Profile, Kamala Harris Makes Her Case, published last summer, when she was running for President, provides a comprehensive briefing on her background. We learn people's names as a sign of respect, and already Trucker Carlston of Fox News went ballistic when a guest on his show pointed out the correct pronunciation of Senator Harris' name. (Yes I know his name is Tucker Carlson). Check out the exchange. I've been racking my brain trying to think of the possible nicknames that Donald Trump will soon unleash as his short cut to reference Senator Harris. I am glad that a woman is on the Democratic ticket with Biden, and the various women he considered as his running mate are talented, accomplished, and dedicated public servants. The Democratic Party has a deep bench of political talent, and it is a disappointment we don't have a woman heading the Democratic Party ticket. I am confident that many of these women will serve in essential posts in the Biden-Harris Administration. I am pleased he selected a woman of color. Kamala identifies both as black and Indian American. Her mother was born and grew up in India, and her father is originally from Jamaica. They met in the United States in Berkeley, as graduate students where they came for educational opportunities. Senator Harris graduated from Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, part of the University of California system, and her undergraduate degree is from Howard University, a Historically Black College located in Washington, DC. Howard University has produced an array of extraordinary jurists, writers, musicians, physicians, thought leaders, and elected officials. A few notables are: Thurgood Marshall, Toni Morrison, Elijah Cummings, Zora Neale Hurston, Ta-Nahesi Coates, Isabel Wilkerson, Sean Combs, and the list goes on. Click here to see a listing of other Howard University Alums. Her first elected office was as the District Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco. Although many are critical of her role as a prosecutor, I found this opinion piece in USA Today by a fierce and well-respected public defender in San Francisco, Niki Solis, very informative. Click here to read Public defender: I worked with Kamala Harris. She was the most progressive DA in CA. Kamala Harris served as California's Attorney General before winning her seat to the Senate. She is only the second black woman to serve in the United States Senate. Having just watched Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' first joint televised appearance, I was filled with pride seeing this brown woman at the podium. Our country deserves smart and thoughtful leaders who understand the hardships, hopes, and desires of ordinary folks who call the United States our home. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can start the long and challenging process of getting the Covid-19 pandemic under control, providing the safety net so desperately needed by millions, and moving our country towards inclusion and away from hatred and division. It's Kamala, like Mommala or Mammala. If you enjoy reading my blogs or watching my Stairwell Teatro Episodes, please share them with friends. Thanks.

"My family's name was changed at Ellis Island." I have heard this many times in the Q&A sessions that follow my live performance and when I speak with folks about my work researching names, identity, and what it means to be an American. When I tell people that the belief that family names were changed at Ellis Island is a myth, many are reluctant to believe this and some reject it outright as a possibility. No amount of explaining will change their minds. They cling to this piece of family history as tightly as if it were a life vest. The Ellis Island name change story repeated in family lore, novels, and countless movies, reinforces the myth. This three-minute scene in The Godfather 2, of how Vito Andolini became Vito Corleone will make reading this blog and the Stairwell Episode more meaningful. Click and watch, so beautifully filmed. If you have European roots and have done genealogical research, you might have read some of these Ellis Island Myth articles, but if you haven't, I'm providing some resources that debunk this myth. Some 12-14 million people were processed through Ellis Island between 1892-1954. European immigrants also arrived in the United States in other port cities including Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New Orleans. Click here for more information on other ports of arrival. First, a simplified big picture view of the Age of Mass Migration from Europe (1850-1920). An estimated 55 million immigrants left Europe, with some 30 million coming to the United States. People left their countries for the same reasons people seek entry into the United States today: poverty, famine, natural disasters, violence, political instability, well-organized persecution (pogroms), and other conditions that made life difficult. As we have seen in recent years, thousands of people (including mothers with young children and unaccompanied minors) journeyed from the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras to the United States seeking refuge. Today Vito Corleone would be classified as an unaccompanied minor, likely no older than 15 (on second-thought he looks 12), and he was traveling alone to America. And, no doubt, Vito would be denied entry. Of course, not all immigrants come to the US fleeing dire circumstances. Our nation attracts people from different backgrounds including the already prosperous and highly educated in search of educational and employment opportunities that may not be available in their home countries. The barriers to immigration for Europeans in the 1800s to early 1900s were minimal. (Note: this is describing European immigrants). So when you hear folks say their ancestors came legally, they did it "the right way," they didn't jump the line, it's important to note that back then most Europeans would be admitted. Check out this excellent explanation of the evolution of restriction on immigration in the American Immigration Council’s fact sheet: Did My Family Really Come "Legally"? But back to the Ellis Island Myth. The first hurdle to immigration was convincing a clerk for a European shipping company that you were healthy enough to make the arduous one-way cross-Atlantic trip. Were you strong, willing, and able to do the physically demanding manual labor that was available in the United States? If you met those minimal requirements the clerk then collected information about you (and your family if you were traveling as a group) that was entered into the Ship Manifest, the document describing the cargo the ship was transporting. This included the passenger’s name, country of origin (remember people came from all over Europe to various port cities to board the ships), their city or region (Corleone is a region in Sicily), occupation, destination, and other basic data. The information included on the Ship Manifest varied over time, but it was basic demographics about the passengers. Back then, many people did not read or write, and often no proof of identity was available or required. Very different from today when we have passports, drivers' licenses, government-issued ID cards, and many other forms of identification to confirm who we are. When a ship arrived at NY harbor, Immigration Agents boarded the Ship and inspected first and second-class passengers. If someone could afford a first or second-class ticket and they appeared in good health, they were welcomed with open arms and sent on their merry way. Steerage class passengers proceeded to Ellis Island. There Immigration Inspectors checked their names against the Ship Manifest and confirmed the information previously recorded by the shipping company. They did not write the names of arriving passengers; they simply checked them against the Manifest. When there were discrepancies or the Inspectors suspected something was amiss, the immigrant would be sent for a secondary screening, which could keep them at Ellis Island for much longer periods of time, or could lead to denial of entry into the United States. When this happened, the shipping company was responsible (at its own expense) to return the passenger back to the European port where the trip originated. After a cursory health screening, an immigrant might undergo further examination, as is shown in the clip of the Godfather. If you haven't yet watched the Godfather clip, click here, it’s only three minutes. Vito is told by an Italian-speaking nurse that he will be quarantined for three months because of smallpox. We see the lone sad boy in a small room with a view of the Statue of Liberty. And the next scene, we see him packing and ready to Ellis Island renamed Vito Corleone. What gives rise to this Ellis Island Name Change myth? 1. The belief that arriving passengers could not communicate with the Immigration Inspectors at Ellis Island, and thus Inspectors wrote down whatever they heard, even when it wasn't a person's name. 2. The idea that Immigration Inspectors thought immigrants should have “American” sounding names, so they entered new names as they registered them arrival at Ellis Island. Inability to Communicate Ellis Island employees were a multilingual crew, and a third of them were immigrants. On average, the employees spoke three languages. And volunteers from various ethnic groups organizations maintained offices at Ellis Island and assisted in processing immigrants in the event no interpreter was available. One of the most famous Ellis Island employees was Fiorello La Guardia, who worked as an interpreter while attending law school at night. The son of an Italian father and a Jewish Austrian-Hungarian mother Fiorello spoke English, Italian, German, Yiddish, and Croatian. He went on to serve in the US Congress and was mayor of NYC for three terms. If you've traveled to NYC, you've probably been through La Guardia Airport. Immigrants Needed Their Names Americanized According to the many sources debunking this myth, there are no contemporaneous sources confirming this myth that inspectors wrote in new names for the arriving passengers. Instead, their job was to check them off the Ship Manifest, which is why the Manifest is one of the primary sources for genealogical researchers. Check out this New York Public Library Blog on the subject. The Smithsonian Magazine also has a short clear explanation. Some articles are specific to immigrant groups as this one in the Armenian Weekly. Check out the lesson plan (with pictures and video) and take a Scholastic Tour of Ellis Island. And, if you are in a listening mode, this seven-minute podcast at Ancestral Findings provides great information. There are abundant resources for anyone wanting to learn more about their European ancestors who came as part of those great migrations. You can search the Complete Archive of Ellis Island Records for free online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/archive-ellis-island-records/ Inspectors were too busy to write-in new names, and that was not their job, their job was to check the presenting immigrants against the Ship Manifest. Each inspector processed 400-500 people a day (that's less than one minute per immigrant in an average workday). Most immigrants went through Ellis Island between 4-7 hours, assuming they did not need to undergo secondary inspection. More here. Finally, this article, Why Your Family Name Was Not Changed at Ellis Island (and One That Was) https://www.nypl.org/blog/2013/07/02/name-changes-ellis-island published by the New York Public Library recounts one story where a name was changed on the Ship Manifest. Mary Johnson was sent for secondary inspection as Johnson was dressed in male attire and exhibited some male characteristics. Johnson explained to the Inspectors that although born female, he had years back taken the name Fred Woodhull and lived his life as a man. Woodhull had previously lived and worked in the United States but had traveled back to England, his home country, and was now returning to the United States. Woodhull was brought before a Board of Special Inquiry at Ellis Island, who according to the New York Times, October 6th, declared him a "desirable immigrant [who] should be allowed to win her livelihood as she saw fit." (p.6) . . . Woodhull talked about how women were expected to behave, dress, and of the types of work open to them. Said Woodhull: men can work at many unskilled callings, but to a woman only a few are open, and they are the grinding, death-dealing kinds of work. Well, for me, I prefer to live a life of independence and freedom. The New York Times goes on to add that the individual identified at Ellis Island as Mary Johnson, was freed, to "face the world as Frank Woodhull." (p.6)" And so, an Addendum was prepared and added to the Ship Manifest. Well, if names didn't get changed at Ellis Island, how did families get new names? In many different ways, as described in the various articles provided. Some took new names before leaving Europe and traveled under those names and that's what appears on the Ship Manifest. Most others though, changed names over a period of years once in the United States. Sometimes under pressure from the hiring hall, a school, at the suggestion of a friend. And some did so to appear more "American" hoping to avoid the prejudice and discrimination new waves of immigrants encountered. As our nation re-examines many glorified and untrue narratives passed on for hundreds of years as American history, the Ellis Island Name Change story is best understood for what it is -- a myth. Thanks for reading this lengthy blog (so much more to say) and for watching the Stairwell Teatro Episode. If you enjoyed it and feel better informed, please share it with your friends and colleagues.

If you have a name considered by some to be “too ethnic” or difficult to pronounce or remember, you’ve probably been asked if you have a nickname. And while most of us do have nicknames, those nicknames are personal and belong to a specific group of people. Most of our nicknames connect us to people we are close to -- family, friends, classmates, a few co-workers. Those are positive nicknames. The dark side of nicknames is their use to demean and bully us. I have often believed that one of Donald Trump’s super-powers is nicknaming people and this gives him control over prominent people in his own party. They fear him for many reasons, but one of them, I think, is the strong possibility that he will give them a nickname that ridicules them. One wonders what Mr. Magoo (former AG Jefferson Beauregard Sessions) Lyin’ Ted (Ted Cruz) or Little Marco (Marco Rubio) think about their Trump-bestowed monikers. And we immediately know which political rivals he references by the disrespectful nicknames he's given them: Pocahontas, Sleepy Joe, Crooked Hilary. Trump has mastered the dark art of creating pejorative nicknames that stick, while seemingly nothing sticks to him. Definitely a Teflon Don, although I think he will eventually get his just deserts. In Episode 10 of my Stairwell Teatro, I have the pleasure of including clips of a zoom conversation with a writer I very much admire, Gustavo Arellano, who is now at the Los Angeles Times. Gustavo wrote the syndicated column, Ask A Mexican, written during his long tenure at the Orange County Weekly. It is through this column (eventually compiled into this book) that I first learned of Gustavo’s take on Mexican nicknames. The broad range of questions and responses on Ask A Mexican were both LOL funny and a window to commonly held prejudices and stereotypes about Mejicanos and Mexican Americans. Here are two questions on topic: His response: Dear Wabette and Chinita: The definitive study on this quirk remains Viola Waterhouse’s “Mexican Spanish Nicknames,” included in the 1981 anthology Linguistics Across Continents: Studies in Honor of Richard S. Pittman. Unfortunately, the ethnolinguist devotes most of her article in including as many seemingly wacky Mexican apodos as possible (some of the better ones mentioned are Goyo for Gregorio, Licha for Alicia, Nacho for Ignacio, and Cuco for Refugio) instead of theorizing why Mexican Spanish is prone to such a mangled morphology. Waterhouse does identify one phenomenon that factors into so many of these name changes: palatalization, in which speakers pronounce nonpalatal consonants as palatals – for example, the transformation of s into a ch sound when Salvador becomes Chava. Other phonetic laws not mentioned by Waterhouse that influence Mexican Spanish nicknames include apocopation (the dropping of a word’s last letters of syllables – Caro for Carolina), aphaeresis (when a word loses syllables or letters at its beginning – Mando for Armando), and syncopation, when a word contracts by shedding sounds – that’s how Roberto becomes Beto. But the question remains: why the dropping of sounds and letters in Mexican-Spanish nicknames? This Mexican’s take: Most nicknames derived from proper nombres are shortened versions of the original. Mexicans advance this process by employing the above mentioned tricks. Such trends occur in languages that are evolving into newer, bolder tongues. So enjoy your pussy Billys from William and Cathys from Catherine, gabachos: Mexicans will take the linguistic wonder that is creating Lencho from Lorenzo any day.” Gotta love it all -- erudition, humor, and jabs dished all around. Get yourself a copy of Ask A Mexican, and I guarantee you’ll have many hours of headshaking, belly laughs, and complete outrage at both the questions and his answers. Definitivamente, vale la pena. Gustavo is smart, funny, irreverent, and insightful in covering each and every topic, and his work at the LA Times this past year has been so so good. Check out his two recent podcasts from the LA Times. The Battle of 187 which tells the story of Prop 187 California’s anti-immigrant initiative on its 25th Anniversary. Prop 187 provided the playbook for the current wave of immigrant-bashing we are experiencing at the national level). The other podcast is Coronavirus in CA: Stories from the Frontlines. Give them a listen. You can subscribe to Gustavo Arellano’s weekly newsletter by visiting his website, click here. I look forward to reading his Saturday missives knowing I’ll be informed, inspired, and amused by his observations and reflections on our shared fears and joys, fruit trees, the KKK, illness and death, paying it forward, gratitude, food, music, y mucho mucho mas. Just google his name and you’ll find articles he’s written in publications from the OC Weekly to the New Yorker, and countless radio and television appearances including the Colbert Report and many others. I enjoyed watching his conversation with Will Hearst at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club (which unfortunately I was not able to attend). Click here to watch. And follow him on: twitter - @Gustavo Arellano con su pluma en su mano Facebook - GustavoArellanoWriter Instagram –@Gustavo_Arellano where you can ask him random questions A final nickname story which didn’t make it into the Stairwell Episode was shared with me decades ago by my friend, also a celebrated writer, the late Jose Antonio Burciaga, author of various books including Weedee Peepo (his father’s pronunciation of the preamble of US Constitution which his dad learned studying for his citizenship exam). “My friend in El Paso is nicknamed Dos XX like the beer." “Really? How did he get that nickname?” “Pues, he has two ex-wives y por eso we call him Dos XX.” I absolutely love the playfulness of language; and for me knowing and speaking Spanish has been an endless source of delight, joy, and pride, and for that, I am grateful to my parents Claudio and Esperanza. I discovered an unexpected cat-me-oh appearance on my Stairwell Episode after I recorded it. Our cat, Sushi 2.0, was lying right behind me and occasionally you can get a glimpse of her. To my long-time friends, NO, this is not the same beloved Sushi from the 80s and 90, thus the addition of 2.0 to her name. We loved the original Sushi so much that when we got another sleek and elegant black cat, we could not think of a different name. As you know COVID-19 is all around us. Please do your part to keep yourself, your family, and your community safe. First and foremost wash your hands often and always carry hand sanitizer with you and apply liberally, wear a mask properly (it must cover your nose, por favor), keep a 6’ distance (minimum) from anyone not in your household (or pod if you have included a small circle of people beyond your immediate household). Have a topic related to names you’d like me to address in an upcoming Teatro Episode and blog, give me a holler at irmadherrera@gmail.com . . . and If you enjoy my Stairwell Teatro or this blog, and aren’t yet a subscriber, please join my subscription list. Gracias.

As we observe the birth of our nation, the July 4th holiday, my heart is heavy as I think of friends who have lost loved ones due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Even if we have not lost anyone close to us, we hear and read the stories of the thousands of people in life and death struggles at home, in hospitals, at nursing homes, in jails and prisons and detention facilities. ALL of us are united in our high levels of fear, dread, and anxiety. The pandemic has brought so much pain and loss: personal, emotional, and financial. Black and brown people are, as always, the hardest hit. Our nation is in the throes of much-needed and delayed reckoning about the distorted and false narrative we were taught, especially as concerns race and all the laws and policies designed to keep black and brown people in positions of subordination. The level of ignorance boggles the mind: last night, at Mt. Rushmore, Trump supporters yelling at Native American protesters/treaty defenders: go back to where you came from. The death of George Floyd and other black men and women has unleashed a level of activism that is astounding. There were more than 4,700 demonstrations during the recent Black Lives Matter protests, an average of 140 per day. Estimates suggest there as many as 26 million people have participated, making this the largest mass movement in our nation's history. Read the full report on this here. And these protests continue, and they aren't stopping. My neighborhood holds a silent vigil that lines our street every Monday evening. All this activism is also a form of patriotism and will propel us forward to help create the fair and just country I wish to live in. This period of disruption has also unleashed enormous creativity: murals, paintings, songs, essays, video, poetry. As I wrote the word "disruption", I flashed on how disruption is typically heralded with admiration and awe in the world of business (think Amazon, eBay, PayPal, airbnb, uber) but often harshly condemned when the disruption forces us to examine inconvenient truths about our nation and who we are and how we got here. But back to art, which often captures -- in images, in words, in sounds -- what we feel but can’t quite say. I am happy to share this poem with the permission of my friend Celenia Delsol, who wrote it. This link to her blog (click here) has the audio version with Celenia reading her poem. All Lives [Never] Matter[ed] by Celenia Delsol What is this uproar Of “All Lives Matter”? As if all of them ever did? As if those first white-faced arrivals Cared about the natives Whose land they stole, Whose women they raped, Whose children they infected With lethal diseases – As if all lives mattered then. As if the African people – Ripped from their continent Shipped like livestock, Sold like chattel, Enslaved to build up A Republic that failed To even recognize Five fifths of their personhood – As if all lives mattered then. As if the brown babies Housed in cages Crying for their Mamis Who were carried across the border To escape worse horrors With the dream of growing up In the fantasy of America – As if all lives mattered then. Oddly, all lives matter When they’re in the womb Before race is revealed, Before mouths want food And souls make demands; Funny how All lives matter then! All lives don’t matter Even when they are “Essential workers” When they drive the buses, Stock the shelves, Nurse the sick At their own peril Without essential gear, As if all lives matter. All lives don’t matter When the plague strikes hard In nursing homes (the old and dying), In private prisons (criminals), In meat processing plants (immigrants) In black and brown neighborhoods (no white people there!) All lives don’t matter! I dare you to tell me “All lives matter,” When taxpayers’ dollars Go to the 1% While the working men, Women and children, Move into their cars, Get in line for food. Do their lives matter? Don’t get in my face With “All Lives Matter!” Don’t question my rage Or B.L.M. placard, Don’t act high and mighty And holier than thou As if my focus On these BLACK lives Makes ME a racist. (Because what you think doesn’t matter). Are you familiar With emergency triage? If it’s losing blood Or CAN’T BREATHE You tend to it first; Unless, of course, You’re a white cop Taking a knee On a black man’s neck. Do you feel me now? If only all lives mattered! [Meanwhile, lest we forget…] Months ago, When the Amazon blazed The rainforest cried, “I CAN’T BREATHE!” Alarms clamored: “The Amazon Matters!” (Not: “All Trees Matter!” Do you see the difference?) Focus attention Where the need is acute. Because it matters! And remember this: If the “lungs of the planet” Cease to work, None of this, Not one of us, Black, brown or white, Will matter. Two more pieces of creative expression that also spoke loudly to me. Let us all do our part to end the two pandemics our nation is facing: Covid-19 and racism. By all means, please send along any art that speaks loudly to you; I'd love to see what moves you. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and Celenia's poem. Si se puede.

One of the biggest rewards of the work I do as a writer and performer is speaking with students and folks who work with students. On Tuesday, June 16, I’ll be participating in a half-day webinar sponsored by SPEAK Mentorship. Click here to learn more about the organization. I'll be on Instagram Live at 10 am Pacific (1 pm Eastern), that's Tuesday, June 16th. You can find me @irmadherrera. I was introduced to SPEAK Mentorship by Praveen Shanbhag, the founder of Name Coach, a software company whose product helps us learn the proper pronunciation of people’s names. With Name-Coach you can create your own audio nametag to append to your social media or email signature which tells people how YOU say your name. And its free to create your personal nametag. I discovered Name-Coach when a friend sent me a link to a news story in the business section of the SF Chronicle about a software used by colleges and universities to help them say students' names correctly at graduation. Click here to learn more about Name-Coach. When my show, Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name?, got on stage, I invited Praveen to be one of my post-show talkback speakers to discuss Name-Coach and the impetus for starting the company, and why saying someone’s name correctly is so important. This is the topic of the June 16th Summit and Name-Coach is one of many sponsors. Check out these videos of people sharing experiences related to their names. More videos are available on YouTube just look for #SpeakingMyName. About SPEAK Mentorship SPEAK stands for Support Prepare Empower Aspiring Kids. And Speak Mentorship is committed to developing a generation of diverse leaders across career fields through various means. Among them is putting together a network of committed passionate professionals who are interested in guiding young people toward meaningful career opportunities that may interest them. They work with school districts and individual schools that serve a large number of immigrant students and SPEAK Mentorship is especially aware that all too often immigrant girls are limited by various forces from realizing their full potential. The organization helps students learn how to access and build social and cultural capital and how to support each other and seek support from people who can help them achieve their dreams. It helps them bridge the gap between high school and college by introducing them to colleges and various career tracks. Through peer support networks they can gain confidence and built greater esteem as they gain new skills interacting with each other and with mentors. They learn about civic engagement and explore and develop healthy coping mechanisms to address the social, cultural, and gender-related barriers that often stand in the way of their success. Their home cultures and languages are seen as assets that can assist them in creating successful careers and becoming leaders in their chosen fields. I’m very impressed by what I have learned about their work and am looking forward to being part of their program. Hetal Jani, the Founding Director of SPEAK Mentorship was one of ten women honored by L’Oréal at their 14th Annual Women of Worth Ceremony in Paris in December 2019. The award was presented to her by Academy-Award winner Helen Mirren. How cool is that? Here's Hetal telling us her name story. I am looking forward to tomorrow's conference. It’s free, and if you have time to join us, please do. Registration link for the conference: bit.ly/SPEAKSummit3 Tuesday, June 16, 2020 8:30 am – 12 pm Pacific (11:30-3 pm Eastern). AND my Instagram Live is at 10 am Pacific (1 pm Eastern), please tune it. Thanks for reading my blog.

Friends, I'll make this short and to the point. On Thursday, June 11th I'll be the guest at The Marsh Theater's MarshStream. It's a one hour program with Stephanie Weisman who is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Marsh Theater. Mostly Q&A and performing some excerpts of my show. Since my one-woman show, Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? is very much about prejudice and racism, you can be sure we will have lots to talk about. Please join us. Thursday, June 11, 2020 7:30-8:30 pm (Pacific Time) Join the Zoom meeting by clicking here. If the zoom room is full, head out to The Marsh's YouTube Channel by clicking here. Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? played for five months at the San Francisco and Berkeley Theaters between October 2018 - March 2019. I plan to be back on stage at some unspecified future time with an updated version. The work is always undergoing some changes in response to current events. Learn more about my show and the Marsh at their website, by clicking here. Hope to see you on Zoom.

Before the nation rose up in protest two weeks ago, the 24/7 news cycle was Covid-19. Here and there an occasional "infotainment" story caught my eye. The announcement that Elon Musk and his partner the Canadian artist Grimes had welcomed a new baby was a fun distraction. I was especially intrigued by their son's name -- X Æ A-12. Episode 9 of my Stairwell Teatre talks about Baby Musk's name but also about the fact that under California law, Spanish names with accents -- like Lucía and José -- will NOT be entered correctly in the child's birth certificate. Attempts to change the state's law to allow accents on names have been unsuccessful. Shameful given that such a large percentage of our state's residents have these very names, and that for thirty years after it became a state, Californa was a fully bilingual English-Spanish state with all laws published in both languages. So if you are an O'Toole, your name gets the apostrophe but if you are a Rendón, no accent on your name. But back to X Æ A-12. Elon Musk and Grimes announced their son's arrival in a tweet. Born on May 4th and may The Force be with him. The question in everyone's mind: Just how exactly do you say this name? Musk shared the pronunciation in Joe Rogan’s podcast, click here to have a listen. No question, it was rude of Rogan to laugh out loud when Musk said the name and Musk's expression of . . . yeah, I know . . . is priceless. Musk noted that the name was mostly Grimes' creation. And Grimes let the world know what the name meant to her on social media. Of course, we don't know if XÆA-12 really is the child’s name or if this is their idea of a media prank or part of Grimes' performance art. No doubt that this name will run afoul of California law which requires that names be written using only the 26 letters of the English Alphabet and does not allow numbers (12), symbols (Æ) diacritical marks (accents). pictograms. or ideograms. Grimes more recently announced via Instagram that the name had been changed slightly to XÆA-Xii. Although asked, she did not confirm that the change was due to the state rejecting the use of numbers. Since they kept the Æ which is a symbol (and not allowed), the new name is still unlikely to get the go-ahead. As mentioned in this video of my Stairwell Teatro, when the journalist, Louis Freedberg, and his wife Alina named their daughter Lucía, the name was rejected because of the accent mark over the í. The full story is in this Op-Ed piece published in the San Francisco Chronicle. Click here to read. Another very interesting read is the law review article by the University of California at Davis Law Professor Carlton Larson. This is the very first law review I loved reading. Rarely (if ever) has anyone said they loved reading a law review article. Non-lawyers will also find the article accessible, informative, and downright entertaining. I promise. Money-back guarantee. Click here to read Naming Baby: The Constitutional Dimensions of Parental Naming Rights. The article has some information about laws in other countries as well, and that information is most interesting and highlights how different things are in the United States. Another interesting read is this article from the BBC about countries that regulate baby names. Click here to get the full scoop.. AND finally, I’ll be on MarshStream this Thursday evening, June 11th from 7:30-8:30 pm (Pacific) speaking about using my solo work to fight racism and promote social justice. I hope you can join us. Click here for more information and to access the Zoom link. Thanks for reading my blog and watching my Stairwell Teatro Episodes. If you like and or learn from my blog or videos, please share with your friends.

The only image that seemed appropriate to post is this black box -- 100,000+ deaths from Covid-19, massive unemployment, the shocking videotaped killing of George Floyd by a police officer, right before our eyes. Millions of people marching in the street, not just in the United States, but throughout Europe, in solidarity with all of us who are committed to dismantling a system of white supremacy. Enough of state-sanctioned violence against black people, limiting our voting rights, the massive showing of police force at lawful protests. Enough from a lying cheating blaming pinche pendejo beyond incompetent Impeached President. Enabled by a feckless Republican Party, as he stokes more hatred with his tweets and the incoherent words he spews. Enough. Our nation must heed the warning: No Justice, No Peace. My emotions range from sorrow, rage, numbness, fear, to hopefulness, and resolve to keep the pressure. No Justice, No Peace. The past 10 tumultuous days have laid bare all the ways in which our country is so badly broken. The NY Times printed 1,000 names of people from around the country, a mere 1% of those who who have died of Covid-19, and the number is still rising. I was overcome with grief reading the few words that said so much about their lives: “quit his job to take care of his parents,” “squeezed in every moment he could with his only grandchild,” “died on the same day as her husband,” “organized food programs for children in the Philippines,” “famous in family circles for his birria stew,” “renegade nun,” “first black woman to graduate Harvard law school.” The vast majority of deaths were my contemporaries, sixties, and older. Although every death is tragic reading about younger people feels worse: Israel Sauz, “new father,” 22, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Latasha Andrews, 33 New Jersey, “always the first to offer help to those in need.” Fred the Godson, 41, New York City, “rapper known for sharp wordplay.” Reading the list reminded me of visiting The Vietnam Veterans Memorial. First a few names and then more names, and more names, and then I am swallowed by a vortex of sorrow knowing that each name represents an inestimable loss to this soldier’s family. I looked up the names of boys from Alice, Texas (some high school classmates). I feel rage knowing that the burdens of wars fought during my lifetime are borne overwhelmingly by the poor and working-class: whites from rust-belt cities and Appalachia, brown and black people both urban and rural, who were drafted and had no college deferments or bone spurs. After the elimination of the draft, our military overpopulated by men and women with fewer opportunities than those available for the children of the middle-class and well-to-do. We have reason to be angry and out in the streets. This was the same feeling that came upon me when I visited the AIDS Memorial Quilt at Moscone Center in San Francisco decades ago. The thousands of cloth squares each represented a life that was lost when AIDS struck a community that we as a society devalued - gay men. And later as the AIDS epidemic ravaged poor black and brown folks, there was no urgency to address the problem as these too were disposable people. As we walked quietly past the hundreds of quilts, volunteers held Kleenex boxes, like offerings, we took the tissues with gratitude to wipe the tears streaming down our faces. So much loss, so much grief. And just when I thought our country had reached rock bottom with the Covid-19 pandemic -- the milestone 100,000 dead, inadequate supplies of PPE for our health care and other essential workers, meat processing workers (most of them immigrants) forced to keep working as Covid-19 infections ravaged their communities -- the Trump Administration washes its hands of the problem. When the explosive news of George Floyd’s murder hit the airwaves it was just too much. Too much. Basta. We read and hear about the murders of black men and women at the hands of the police and white vigilantes, week after month after year. Other POC also die at the hands of the police and white supremacists. Two months ago, Guillermo “Memo” Garcia died nine-months after he and 45 other Mexican -looking people were gunned down by a white supremacist at a Walmart in El Paso, 23 dead. All of this is also true and heartbreaking, and we mourn them as well. For now, let us keep the focus on BLACK LIVES, let us join them and tell them we too are willing to learn and grow and to do our part to dismantle racism in our own communities. Brothers and sisters, we stand with YOU. Black Lives Matter. Now . . . let me share some good things I’ve got going on that are part of the movement of confronting racism. Those of you familiar with my work, my play, blogs, Stairwell Teatro, know that promoting fairness and justice is at the heart of my work. Although my play is not on stage, I’m presenting my work via Zoom in a variety of venues. I was part of the opening session of Hispanics in Philanthropy’s Virtual Summit this week. Later this month, I’ll be presenting a workshop for high school students interested in becoming lawyers. at Centro Legal de la Raza in Oakland. They have a year-round Youth Law Academy Program and a summer intensive workshop to help prepare these students for success in their educational journey. I'll also be at Puente’s Summer Institute for counselors. The Puente Program works with educationally disadvantaged students from middle school through community college: their goal is to maximize these students’ chances of graduating from four-year colleges and universities. Read more about Puente by clicking here. It truly is an honor to be invited to share my work in these spaces with our youth. Next week, Thursday, June 11th, I’ll be spending an hour 7:30-8:30 (Pacific Time) with Stephanie Weisman, Artistic Director and Founder of The Marsh Theater. You can be sure I'll be talking about racism and white supremacy. No matter where you live, in the US, Europe, or Africa (lucky to have friends, near and far), you can be in the audience. Click here to join via Zoom, and if Zoom Room is filled you can follow on MarshStream's YouTube Channel. The thousands of people demonstrating in cities around the world, a rainbow coalition of folks from different backgrounds standing together. the majority of them young people, demanding the dismantling of systemic racial injustice, give me great hope. All of us must keep hope alive. In closing, I leave you with these two beautiful poems, the first A Working Class Prayer, written by C. Adan Cabrera, a friend, and former work colleague, It has been published in two different literary sites, and you can read poems, blogs, and stories at his website, click here. A Working Class Prayer by C. Adán Cabrera for my father, who wakes up in the dark, and who through storm or errant sickness must still ferry strangers to whomever may be waiting for them on the other side. for my mother, who must don vest and name-tag to serve hungry crowds that bite with uncovered maws: steel their uncured faults, enclose them within your walls; plant in their garden flowers of joy instead of ashen woe. for my grandmother, who crossed deserts with naked feet and who once challenged the moon to a shouting match. for my abuelo, who crouched in his dark hut and whose tired fingers turned leather into what gringos called souvenirs but which were to us simply gifts: permit gray fingers to remain remembered forever; let them unburdened find their way back to you. for my sister, mother of three and teacher of all things pure as well as practical, our alchemist manqué: a fistful of cash becomes food for a week, even if she must sometimes go hungry. for my brother, who’s lost faith along with his job and whose stony dread sleeps cold and permanent in the pit of his being: may they drink deeply of hope and nourish their every hunger. grant them too safe passage and etch into their hearts your wisdom. for my brown nephews, children of mine in all but name, who now shelter in place against a predator unseen: outside the young sun beckons, while their feverish father scrubs toilets and wipes sullied windows: give them a world (please) washed clean and protect them from invisibility: for to die one must first be unseen And finally . . . Langston Hughes. Thank you so much for reading my blog.

Imagine this dilemma. You are well-educated and eminently qualified for a job. Your resume is tailored to highlight the experiences that make you a strong candidate. But you wonder: will your name be an impediment. It well might be if your name is an identifiably “ethnic” or “black” name. The National Bureau of Economic Research and numerous other sources confirm that racial and national origin discrimination rears its ugly head in the process of evaluating resumes. See “Are Emily and Greg more employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination.” Click here to read article. Episode 8 of my Stairwell Teatro, Shadeequa or Dee? features an interview with Shadeequa Smith speaking about her personal experience with name discrimination. Shadeequa has a Master of Laws (LLM, an advanced law degree) in Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine University Law School. More about Shadeequa's background, including her work in restorative justice and bail reform here. Thanks, Shadeequa for sharing your name story with us. We met online in a webinar on Microaggressions sponsored by California ChangeLawyers, a public foundation committed to diversifying the legal profession to empower the next generation of lawyers, judges, and activists. If you are in a position to send some love their way, do so in the form of a financial contribution. That money will be put to good use and provides scholarships for law students and so much more. I have been impressed with the variety of valuable skill-building webinars they have hosted during these Covid-19 Shelter in Place times. Big shout-out to the staff and board of ChangeLawyers, click here to visit their website. My interest in names stems from my desire to understand how bias and prejudice show up in our everyday lives and to explore the tools, including laws, that can help us eliminate barriers that stand in the way of achieving our fullest potential. Understanding name discrimination is part and parcel of shedding light on discrimination on the basis of race, ethnic origin, religion, and gender identity. The ‘Emily and Greg’ research was done in 2003 and more recently these findings were confirmed in a study published by The Harvard Business School in 2016, Whitened Résumés: Race and Self-Presentation in the Labor Market, click here to link to study. Perhaps more disturbing is the following conclusion of the Harvard study. “Results show that when targeting an employer that presents itself as valuing diversity, minority job applicants engage in relatively little resume whitening and thus submit more racially transparent resumes. Yet our audit study of how employers respond to whitened and unwhitened résumés shows that organizational diversity statements are not actually associated with reduced discrimination against unwhitened résumés. Taken together, these findings suggest a paradox: minorities may be particularly likely to experience disadvantage when they apply to ostensibly pro-diversity employers. These findings illuminate the role of racial concealment and transparency in modern labor markets.” Yikes, that is indeed disturbing. This form of discrimination isn’t just a problem in the United States; research studies in France, Great Britain, and Australia reach the same conclusion. A study by the French government last year found "presumed discrimination" against minorities in the hiring practices of seven of the country's major companies, including Renault and Air France. The seven were "named and shamed" for tending “to favour candidates who bear names of French origin rather than those of North-African descent.” Interested in learning more, click here. In the United Kingdom, the finding was the same. Minority ethnic applicants and white applicants with non-English names have to send on average 60 percent more applications to even get a response from an employer than a white person of British origin. The Confederation of British Industry recommends the removal of candidates’ names from job applications so employers focus on the skills and experience of applicants. And the British civil service implemented name-blind hiring practices several years ago. For more info check out this article from Raconteur, an HR publication, and this from The Guardian. In Australia, the telecommunications giant (Optus) came under fire two years ago for posting a job ad on an employment site that noted a preference for ‘candidates who are Anglo Saxon’. The ad was swiftly removed after accusations of blatant racism, but many noted that the ad simply put into words the unspoken desire of many hiring managers to recruit people who look and sound just like them. Despite many studies pointing to the business case for diversity and Australia’s federal laws that prohibit discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, “the fact remains that racist attitudes – whether unconscious or overt – influence many of the hiring decisions in companies. It manifests in different ways, from explicit racial preferences, such as in the Optus case, to overlooking applicants with non-Anglo-Saxon sounding names and coded messages in job ads, such as a requirement for ‘perfect English’. There’s often an assumption that people can only speak a high-level of English if they come packaged in an Anglo-Saxon body,” says Lisa Annese, CEO of Diversity Council Australia. The Victorian Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Robin Scott knows too well the racial preferences in Australia can influence recruitment decisions. Scott’s wife, Shaojie, has often used the Anglicised version of her Chinese name, Jade, while job hunting to avoid the potential for bias.” More info here. Thank you for reading my blog and watching my Stairwell Teatro Series. If you found this interesting and informative, share it with your friends and your networks. And if you have a name story you wish to share, email me at irmadherrera@gmail.com.

This past Monday was a red-letter day. I received a treasure trove of emails from folks who read my blog and watch my Stairwell Teatro Series. Few things are more gratifying than hearing from you. Maria in Tucson writes, “this weekend we learned one of our nieces is expecting a girl. So I went to one of my favorite websites (amightygirl.com) for gift ideas. I saw this book, ‘My Name is Maria Isabel.’ If only I’d had such books when I was growing up . . . oh well, I’m so pleased to know they now exist. The book stood out to me for the topic is timely to your activist art and wanted to share.” Mil gracias, Maria. So . . . I immediately visit the website and like what I see. A wide selection of books, music, films, toys for children of various ages. And it’s truly multicultural and international in scope. I’m also impressed that the section on parenting addresses such important topics as body image, child sexualization, gender research, adoption, children with disabilities, LGBTQ parenting, and many others. The one disappointment is that most purchases link to Amazon. Alas. Have a look at what amightygirl.com has to offer. I love supporting writers of diverse backgrounds and I searched for, but did not find, Wendy Diaz’ book, The Secret of My Hijab, at amightygirl.com. I met Wendy several years ago while working at New America Media. This children's book was illustrated by Wendy's son, Uthman Guadalupe, 13. It's a lovely book and makes a wonderful gift for families with young children. Wendy is co-founder of Hablamos Islam which provides educational materials and resources about the Islamic religion and culture in Spanish, and is also the Spanish Content Coordinator at Islamic Circle of North America. She has published 10 children’s books. I also highly recommend Wendy’s book De Puerto Rico to Islam With Love, a collection of poetry about identity and faith. Born in Puerto Rico to a Catholic family, her father was a career military man and Wendy's family lived in bases throughout the United Stages. At age 20 she converted to Islam. Check out her author's page (yes at Amazon) here. You can also read Wendy's journalism posts at Latino Muslim Reporter: La Voz Latina del Islam here. Until meeting Wendy, I knew zero Muslim Latinos. It is estimated that there are approximately 265,000 Latinos in the US who identify as Muslim. I got several other emails on Monday as described in Episode 7 of my Stairwell Teatro series. One attached a newspaper clipping from a Miss Manners column. The issue of family or friends’ unwillingness to make an effort to learn the names of important people in our lives is, sadly, a much too common theme. Julie’s email had the briefest of messages: “The issue is everywhere once you start to look for it. Thank you.” Thank YOU, Julie for sending along. Finally, I got two emails about the NYT’s Sunday story The Mrs. Files, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/arts/mrs-women-identity.html, an interesting piece about woman’s identity in the world being more than a one-dimensional story about who she marries. Maya Angelou’s quote can guide each and every one of us when it comes to saying people’s names. “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” Thanks so much for your emails and texts, and your comments on social media when I post stories or videos. You -- my global research partners -- are very much a part of each story. Gracias.

The name Xavier has multiple correct pronunciations. But unless you’ve heard Xavier say his name or someone who knows tells you how it is pronounced, you can’t be certain. It could be any of these three options. So if you are mistaken when you say it it's totally understandable. And there may be Xaviers out there who say their name yet another way. My friend Ana's spouse and son are named Xavier. They pronounce it Sa-vier or shortened it is Sah-vee, very pleasing and melodic. She told me that's how they pronounce it in El Salvador, her country of origin. I have also known several Ex-a-viers. Reminder: in Spanish, the letter "h" is silent as in -- hola (hello) which sounds exactly like ola, which means wave as in the waves of the ocean. More generically ola can mean surge or movement. Spanish keeps it interesting by giving the "h" sound to two letters "j" and "x." Examples, jalapeños, José, or Mexico (Meh-he-co). Do you get irritated when you hear names mispronounced? Some folks don't unless it's their own name, and some say even that doesn't bother them. Not me, it bugs me big time. I’m watching the local news when I hear this: "Today, California Attorney General EX-a-vier Becerra, sued the Trump Administration over its policy . . . blah, blah, blah." I tuned out within a flash of hearing Ex-a-vier. For me, it's like nails on chalkboard. Wha? How can she not know how to say the name of the state's Attorney General? Well, whatever, she doesn’t, so I set out to teach her. I Google her and immediately find her email address at the local network affiliate. I write her a polite note telling her that the AG pronounces his name HA-vier, providing that phonetic guide. I explain that I know him personally and this is how he says it. She writes back shortly after coming off the air with a genuinely warm response. She did not know she was mispronouncing it and no one had brought it to her attention. She thanks me and says moving forward, she'll get it right. Mission Accomplished. I appreciated her openness to receiving this. One of my favorite mantras popped into my head: "we don't know, what we don't know." But someone around her should know -- they are in the news business -- and this Xavier Becerra is often in the news. Before being named California's Attorney General, he served in Congress for 24 years and led the Hispanic Caucus for several years. Surely more seasoned newsroom veterans know his name. Maybe they never said it when discussing the lineup of that evening’s news stories, The incident reminds me of the importance of diversity in the newsroom. When there are few or no editors, producers, and reporters from the communities where these “ethnic” names originate, you can be sure they won’t know how we say them. And you can also be sure that the issues that affect our communities are likely also getting short shift. Although we comprise a huge swath of our state’s population, Latinos just aren’t in the newsroom in numbers one would expect. It’s a well-documented fact that newsroom employees are less diverse than U.S. workers overall. I loved these images from the Columbia Journalism Review article, The Disparity Times: 17% of US Newsroom Staff Is Not White (Fall 2018). “The structural forces that contribute to the problem are well known and largely reflect how race and privilege intersect. The main entry points into the profession—unpaid internships and journalism schools—tend to favor people who come from wealthy backgrounds. Many jobs are never posted; hires are made through existing networks, in which people tend to affiliate and empathize, with those like themselves. When people of color do manage to get hired, they find a lack of formal mentorship and they are infrequently promoted into management positions. When job cuts come along—in the past 10 years, the newspaper workforce has been sliced in half—minorities are often among the first to go.” Got some time on your hands? Want to read the article, click here. So much work needs to be done to give our kids the opportunities they deserve. The Covid-19 pandemic has only made more evident the enormous disparities in income, education, health, access to safety and safety nets, between the haves and the have nots. We gotta keep working to make these much-needed changes. When I get discouraged, something else quickly reminds me of the positive changes I’ve seen in the past decades, and the second vignette in Episode 6 of this Stairwell Teatro Series is about one such positive change. When Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Appellate Judge Tani Cantil-Sakauye to the post of Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, lawyers were scrambling to learn the correct pronunciation of her name, especially those who argue before the Cal Supreme Court. This picture of the Chief Justice brings me joy, and seeing a picture of the entire California Supreme Court keeps me smiling for days. Change is inevitable and sometimes those changes are huge. And those changes happen at the ballot box. Who gets appointed to these judgeships at the state level depends on Governors and at the federal level on the President and the US Senate. YOUR vote matters immensely, and never more than this November. When I arrived in San Francisco in 1980 to work at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the California Supreme Court was led by its first woman Chief Justice, Rose Bird, who was also the first woman appointed to our state Supreme Court, and the ONLY woman serving at that time. Justice Wiley Manuel, also on the court was the first African American on California’s Supreme Court. The remaining five justices back in 1980 were white men. (Btw, it was at MALDEF where I met Xavier Becerra when was a summer law clerk when I worked there). But back to the California Supreme Court. Up until two years ago, women were a majority of the justices and this was the case for several years. Wha? Yes for a period of time there were no white men on the California Supreme Court. When Justice Kathryn Werdegar retired, that seat was filled by Justice Joshua Groban. Who can forget US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's famous words: “When I'm sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court] and I say, 'When there are nine,' people are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that." I have great confidence that the life experiences of justices who hail from different backgrounds are likelier to yield better decisions whether they are considering cases involving fraud in financial institutions, race and gender discrimination, environmental regulation, access to health care, or criminal justice. What does the Supreme Court look like in your state? California's Chief Justice hails from farm working families who toiled the agricultural fields of California and the sugar cane and pineapple plantations of Hawaii. She is married to a Japanese-American whose career was spent as a police officer in Sacramento. Both she and her spouse were educated in the public schools and universities of our great state. This Chief Justice's educational background is quite a contrast to the fact that most folks selected for these high-level judicial positions were educated in Ivy League schools. It’s no surprise that Chief Justice Cantil-Sakayue's annual State of the Judiciary delivered in March 2020 reflected on the importance of using the courts as “Places for Social Justice.” Click here for more info on her remarks. Thank you for watching my Stairwell Teatro Series and reading my blog, if you enjoy them, please share with your friends and continue to send me your comments and ideas for future episodes. It's now been two months since the seriousness of Covid-19 really hit home. Even though some areas of the country are starting to open up, let us proceed with great caution. By staying the course we reduce the losses, every death and illness caused by Covid-19 brings heartache and extraordinary pain to the families and friends directly affected. So please let's avoid unnecessary trips outside of our homes and when we must leave home, wearing masks is essential and is most places required. Let's keep washing our hands often. Be kind and considerate to all our essential workers, and generous to those in need. The safety of our nation (and the whole world) depends on each of us doing our part to stop the spread of Covid-19.