Get A Simpler Name

At a public hearing, Brown told a Chinese community activist, testifying about the difficulties Asian Americans face to vote: “Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?”

When Ramey Ko, a representative of the Organization of Chinese Americans, resisted, Brown added: “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?”

After initially rejecting criticism that her comments were racist, Brown has apologized.