After Republican senator intentionally mispronounced Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s name at an event, #MyNameIs started trending on social media to support her and people revealed their unique names and their meanings in different cultures.
Senator David Perdue mispronounced Harris’s name at an election rally in support of US President Donald Trump on October 17. However, this offended many social media users, and many celebrities and Indian Americans came out to support her.
Senator David Perdue of Georgia talking about the first Black woman to be on a national ticket. pic.twitter.com/4fVylBJgdA
— Robert Costa (@costareports) October 17, 2020
People pronounce my name many different ways. Let #KidsForKamala show you how it’s done. pic.twitter.com/7QoQGN0B4k
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) May 24, 2016
According to reports, it was Amit Jani, the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Outreach Coordinator of the Biden campaign who launched the ”My name is” campaign.
Many also used the hashtag to express support and promote the Democratic party’s candidates.
Several political figures and celebrities and like Kal Penn, Lea Thompson, Amitav Ghosh, Gautam Raghavan, Meena Harris, and others also participated in the campaign.
#MyNameIs Meenakshi. I'm named after the Hindu goddess, as well as my great great grandmother. I come from a long line of strong women who taught me to be proud of my heritage and to demand respect—especially from racist white men like @sendavidperdue who are threatened by us. https://t.co/Bonzz5n3Xu
— Meena Harris (@meenaharris) October 17, 2020
#MyNameIs Vanita, which means beloved woman. https://t.co/EQdA3SadBW
— Vanita Gupta (@vanitaguptaCR) October 18, 2020
#MyNameIs Somini. Nectar of the moon. (Moonshine if you wish) https://t.co/n9jJsjZlzb
— Somini Sengupta? (@SominiSengupta) October 18, 2020
My name Amitav means 'Infinite Light'. It is one of the names of the Buddha, hence Amida in Japanese, Emituo Fo in Chinese. https://t.co/d8jrrwnYSq
— Amitav Ghosh (@GhoshAmitav) October 18, 2020
Amid the criticisms, a spokeswoman for Perdue’s campaign defended his remarks.
“Senator Perdue simply mispronounced Senator Harris’ name, and he didn’t mean anything by it,” said Casey Black. “He was making an argument against the radical socialist agenda that she and her endorsed candidate Jon Ossoff are pushing.”
However this is not the first time, Harris’s name has been wilfully mispronounced to highlight her ethnicity during this presidential campaign.
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