Hello! My name is Brooke Wilczewski. Nice to meet you! No, no, no. Not Wazowski! Will-Chess-Key!
Going into a new environment and having a million and one names thrown at you is not easy for anybody. However, what is important is that we listen closely and do our due diligence as human beings to put a real effort into remembering the names of those around us. These aren't just silly little words that we can throw away and exchange for whatever we please, but these names hold an important identity for each individual, it represents who they are, where they came from and what they believe in, it represents them.
In high school, I was on a competitive speech team. Out of the 140 competitors on the team, I was one of about 40 white competitors. My other teammates represented a beautiful, diverse array of backgrounds that allowed me to learn more about cultures that I had previously known nothing about.
Yet, at each tournament, knowing the array of names that are difficult for average Americans to pronounce, we continuously had to forgive and find a way to laugh at the pronunciation of names butchered time and time again. As my time competing went on, the pronunciation of my name became better, but it never seemed to get better for the majority of my diverse team.
This is something that can no longer be acceptable. As humans in 2018, we have become familiar with gendering people directly and using the politically correct terminology for people with different ability levels, yet, we still seem to forget one of the most critical parts of who each of us are at our core; we don't work to correctly pronounce each other's names.
At points in the season, my teammates would accept incorrect pronunciation of their names or just come up with nicknames that were easier for the general white population of Nebraska to pronounce, but they shouldn't ever have felt as though they needed to do that.
It is our job, no matter what background we come from, to work to accept and embrace the identities of those that are around us, especially something so important as their names.
I cannot thank my coach enough for making us do silly activities to learn each of the 140 names on our team, as well as teach each of us to be sure to ask that we are correctly pronouncing the names those around us because they deserve to have the care to be taken with their identities that is so second nature to the rest of us.
Our country is truly a melting pot, and it's time that we do more than just sitting and waiting for the chocolate chips to melt. We need to stir the post to get to the ooey-gooey yumminess that comes along with it, just like it feels to have made new friends.
It is something so simple, yet so meaningful to every person that surrounds us, and it is time that we give the same respect and appreciation we expect to EVERYONE, no matter the difficulty, no matter their background, not just those with names that are seemingly easy to pronounce, like Rachel or Sarah.
It is so easy! What should we do to show we care and are truly making an effort to pronounce names correctly?
Ask. Just ask.
So, hello once again! My name is Brooke Wilczewski, a strong woman with a very Polish name, and I am heckin' proud of it! It's time for you to take the effort to get it right.
