#68. All-White Sounding Hurricane Names

Why can't Hurricane Irene have a Black-sounding name?

"The Blacks" are an incredibly prideful people, possessing the highest self-esteem of any race on the planet despite professing a complete lack of any historical examples of actual achievement, innovation, or ingenuity to substantiate such racial self-worth.

Any and all achievements that "the Blacks" have to their credit in America is due to  pressure exerted by Disingenuous White Liberals (DWLs) to universally lowering standards in every industry (public or private) to ensure some level of Black representation and promotion.

Because the United States of America has been replaced with Black-Run America (BRA), eventually every demand by Black people to rectify past and present - real or fictional - injustices that they tragically had to endure will be recompensed.

It is only natural that one of the gravest examples of prejudice left in America will soon be remedied: the first hurricane to be named with a Black-sounding first name.

The bigotry and injustice of naming hurricanes with boring, lily-white sounding names must end; this form of oppression has kept Black people out of pursuing careers in any maritime industry and has convinced Black people that oceans and any body of water are inherently racist.

How dare hurricanes continue to be steeped in ethno-centrism and the cultural imperialism of white-sounding names when so many Black names are deserving of that honor. Perhaps because meteorology is an industry that has been historically ravaged by racism:

While not ubiquitous, a number of avenues exist for students seeking to pursue meteorology careers. Among the nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Jackson State is the only one to offer a bachelor's degree program in meteorology. Williams said Jackson State's program graduates about 1 in 4 African-American meteorologists in the nation.

About 50 percent of Jackson State meteorologists graduates since 2002 have gone to graduate school, while about 25 percent go on to start careers in broadcasting as television and radio weather forecasters and another 20 percent go to work for government agencies, such as the National Weather Service, part of the National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration.

Job opportunities in meteorology are expected to be better in private industry than in the federal government in the future, while opportunities in broadcasting are highly competitive, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the U.S. Department of Labor.

 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has few Black employees worthy of commending, but never fails to promote them above all other lily-white staffers. One day, the injustice of ethnic chauvinism will end and a Black-sounding name (DeAndre, LaMarcus, Quindaras, LaToya, Demarcus, Phonecia, LaTisha, etc.) will be picked and official the hegemony of white-sounding names will end.

Until then, we can thank another member of Organized Blackness - Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee - for fighting the good fight:

Do devastating hurricanes need help from affirmative action? 

A member of Congress apparently thinks so, and is demanding the storms be given names that sound "black."
The congressional newspaper the Hill reported this week that Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, feels that the current names are too "lily white," and is seeking to have better representation for names reflecting African-Americans and other ethnic groups. 

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas

"All racial groups should be represented," Lee said, according to the Hill. She hoped federal weather officials "would try to be inclusive of African-American names."
A sampling of popular names that could be used include Keisha, Jamal and Deshawn, according to the paper.

Radio talk-show giant Rush Limbaugh says he was having dinner with his wife when he first learned of the proposal. 

"I just threw up my hands. I said, 'Has it come to this now?'" Limbaugh recounted on his show.
"There's discrimination and actually elected officials wandering around worried about the discrimination in the name of hurricanes. And hurricanes are destructive. You know nobody's very excited when a hurricane's heading their way, and yet here she is demanding that hurricanes be named after black people. 

"You know it used to be that hurricanes were named only after women because they were destructive and unpredictable. And that's the reason. The feminists grew upset about that, demanded that hurricanes be named after men, and so now, the civil rights leaders are demanding black names for hurricanes. 

Limbaugh continued his analysis, saying it was not the mainstream populace responsible for what he called the "Balkanization" of race relations in America. 

"It is these elected black leaders, the civil-rights coalitions – they're the ones that keep causing all this racial divide, they're the ones that keep calling attention to all this," said Limbaugh. "They're the ones that keep stirring this pot. They're the ones who don't want there to be any colorblind society. They're the ones who keep being agitated and trying to agitate others over all this, and now it's descended into the meaningless element of the names of hurricanes." 

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, hurricanes were for centuries named after the Catholic saints' days on which the storms fell. 

In 1953, the United States abandoned as confusing a two-year-old plan to name storms by a phonetic alphabet (Able, Baker, Charlie) when a new, international phonetic alphabet was introduced. That year, weather services began using female names for storms.

The crusade for a Black-sounding hurricane is not over, as we learned that Spanish and French names were added back in 2003, but Black-names were left out:

After Spanish and French names for hurricanes — such as Juan and Claudette — were added in 2003, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, said hurricane names should be more representative of the cultures they impact, including blacks:

Some black lawmakers don’t seem to mind, but Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) does. “All racial groups should be represented,” said Lee.
The World Meteorological Organization began naming tropical storms after women in 1953. That made sense to scientists at the time who thought women and storms were both unpredictable. After feminist groups protested, men’s names were added in 1979.

The National Weather Service says hurricane names are derived from languages spoken in areas that border the Atlantic Ocean, where such storms occur. Yet that doesn’t explain why Gaston, Ernesto and Cindy were chosen and Antwon, Destiny and Latonya were passed over.
Lee said she hoped in the future the weather establishment “would try to be inclusive of African American names.”

Lee’s call for action may have been heard by the World Meteorological Organization, which selects hurricane names for the Atlantic basin. Because of their destruction, hurricane officials have retired the storm names Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan and Wilma. The replacements are: Don, Katia, Rina, Sean and Whitney.

Here are the top 20 sounding Black girl and Black boy names:

20 "Blackest" Girl Names

Imani
Ebony
Shanice
Aaliyah
Precious
Nia
Deja
Diamond
Asia
Aliyah
Jada
Tierra
Tiara
Kiara
Jazmine
Jasmin
Jazmin
Jasmine
Alexus
Raven

20 "Blackest" Boy Names

DeShawn
DeAndre
Marquis
Darnell
Terrell
Malik
Trevon
Tyrone
Willie
Dominique
Demetrius
Reginald
Jamal
Maurice
Jalen
Darius
Xavier
Terrance
Andre
Darryl

 The NOAA could pick from that list and have the perfect Black-sounding hurricane. What is the reason for this continued neglect and unprecedented level of racism? Perhaps the reason is something... sinister.

Consider the property damage down by your average hurricane or during a hurricane season. The loss of life, bad as it is, is never that substantial. Flooding, downed-trees, limited to major property damage for both residential and commercial buildings, and a lot of rain. Cities can recover from a hurricane, with communities coming together to help one another out in times of rebuilding and distress. People who fled the hurricane's path will return and, in time, tourism will come back and any business that shuttered will re-open.

However, cities cannot survive the Black Undertow. Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis, Mobile, Montgomery, Birmingham, Baltimore, Newark, Detroit, Oakland, and any other city or county that goes from majority white to majority Black will never recover economically.

Worse, a hurricane brings one-time property damage; the Black Undertow participates in criminal activity that results in property damage all year around, driving down property value and forcing the closures of malls, big box chains, restaurants and other places of business that the fictional concept of Black-purchasing power can no longer maintain.

The rules governing the invisible hand of economics are immutable, and though a hurricane might momentarily interrupt a local economy via forced evacuation, water and property damage, cities can recover from the hardship faced from nature.

Local economies can not survive climate change or man-made climate change through the introduction and eventually usurpation of the city or county by the Black Undertow. The iron law of the invisible hand is immutable; bad money drives out good money.

The initial devastation of a hurricane might seem severe and insurmountable, impacting lives and uprooting businesses, but cities and towns can preserve and recover economically. A city or county overwhelmed by the Black Undertow will not recover, as the problems will aggregate over time until property has been devalued, homes abandoned, streets and  neighborhoods are no longer safe to walk down, and businesses are boarded up - not because of the impending arrival of a hurricane and inclement weather - because the     
white flight left a force with more long-term devastating abilities then a hurricane could imagine to do, in charge.

Hurricane Demarcus already hit Birmingham and Montgomery; Hurricane Latoya already slammed into Baltimore and Detroit; why should a Black-sounding hurricane slam into the Gulf Coast or Florida Keys?

Can't white-sounding names monopolize the destruction for once? Perhaps it's a good thing Black-sounding names are still in the back of the bus when it comes to hurricanes.

Stuff Black People Don't Like includes all-white sounding hurricane names, because Black people's narcissism knows no bounds.