Texas Rep. comment sparks controversy

April 13, 2:45 PMImmigrant Community ExaminerWilfredo Rodriguez-Padilla

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Texas State Rep. Betty Brown

 A Texas lawmaker suggested in a hearing last Tuesday that Asian-American voters should consider adopting names that are "easier for Americans" to avoid problems at the polls.

"Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese [...] do you think it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here? I'm not talking about changing your name, I'm talking about the transliteration or whatever you refer to what you could use with us," said state Representative Betty Brown on the hearing about voter identification legislation.

The comment obviously sparked outrage among the Asian-American community.

The incident occurred when Ramey Ko, associate member of the Organization of Chinese Americans, testified before the Texas House Elections Committee on voter ID legislation. He pointed out that when Asian individuals go vote, problems come up because of the frequent differences between the transliterated name and the English name shown on drivers' licenses.

Ko's observation was met with skepticism from Brown, who later said: "Can't you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that's easier for Americans to deal with?"  

The Texas Democratic Party on Wednesday demanded an apology from Brown.

"It's shameful that Rep. Brown's immediate and initial reaction to hearing a legitimate problem with a Voter ID bill was to ask a fellow American to sacrifice his good family name and tradition for the convenience of her partisan agenda" said Boyd Richie, Texas Democratic Party Chairman, in a statement to FOXNews.com.

Other organizations, such as the Asian American Justice Center, the Asian American Institute, and the Organization of Chinese Americans, also called on Brown to apologize for her comment.

A spokesman for Brown insisted that she was not making a racially motivated comment but was simply attempting to find a solution for an identification problem.

On Sunday, Brown formally apologized for the statement but insisted that opponents of the voter identification bill were using the controversy to obscure the real issue involved.