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My name is Richard Young from Off2Kali and this
is my
first ever vlog.
So for my first ever vlog I want to talk about Richard Young. Not me but my name.
Yes
I am a brown person
with a white name.
Don't worry, I'm not going to do Russell Peters' comedic bit. Now a lot of you probably
are wondering, "Richard how did you get that name 'Young'?" It started off way back in Jamaica
when my ancestors
had decided to travel from India to Jamaica. They got there
and they met the British Rulers. "All right, next in the queue. Welcome to Jamaica
what's your name?
What's your name?"
"uh... Farid Abdul Ahmed"
"Alright. Well that's just a bunch of poppycock.
So from now on your name is going to be 'Reginald Young'."
"Regi..."
"Alright, off you go. Tip top. Cheerio. God Save The Queen. Insert other British
saying here."
Now my white name totally came in handy especially because I was born and raised in the Canadian
suburbs
and you know when I say suburbs I mean
'suburbs'.
"I'm so impressed."
"Why?"
"You speak English really well."
And then when I actually wanted to get a job, well that totally worked. My white name came in handy
during the resume screening process.
"Dhalsim.
Okay, who used the font 'Times New Roman' any more, really?
Richard Young. Keep this one.
(groan) And how do I say this one?
K....
K..." "Kevin."
"Sounds like a ***."
I would assume that there are some bosses who unconsciously gravitate
towards
simpler sounding names because they kind of assume that the people who have those
names would be more of a cultural fit. Now I know that this happened because when I
actually got to the interviews. "Alright, next up we have Richard Young."
"Yeah, that's me."
"Oh."
"Alright then, well--uh--
come on in.
Oh.
I have to apologize
I just ate a sandwich with beef." "So?"
"So, uh,
I always apologize to every candidate
as to what sandwich I'm eating.
Salaam Walekum?"
At that point I would show everyone that I was capable, that I was diligent, that I was
hard-working and most importantly
I could speak english really
really well.
But then after doing the corporate thing for a couple of years I decided to just quit it
all and just do my dream which was being an actor.
But here's the thing
the name Richard Young
kind of trips up my acting game.
See, when the film industry is looking to fill brown roles they automatically search
out and remember actors with brown names. You know, like Dev Patel or Danny Pudi
or Naveen Andrews.
See, all those names are perfect because
they have the right amount of browness just of a little bit of mocha flavor
just to let you know who they are but not so brown they scare the mother*******. But Richard Young?
No-one's going to think that that's a brown person. And to top it all off my
early set of headshots were
slightly overexposed.
I had a light sort of photo with a light sort of name and it ended up being a huge
issue. I got called in to read for this amazing awesome part
for a World War II Canadian solider.
I went ahead and I did my audition. And you know what? It was great! I
didn't drop a line. I knew all my objectives.
I was bold. I was perfect.
And you know what happened?
I didn't get the part because I was brown. What did you think was going to happen?
Although it would have been fun if I got it.
"Please don't go!" "I have to.
because even though I want to be in your arms
i have to go off to Berlin and sock those Nazi cronies right in their
kissers." "Wait!
I don't even know your name." "Ahmed."
I'm happy to report that I have a new set of headshots and they actually look like
this
color. But still my name can be a bit of an issue. So here's the situation: Most brown people have a fake
white name to get ahead.
I need a fake
brown name
to get ahead.
So I want to get one from you. Put your fake brown names you think I should have in the
comments section below, just put them in, and in a future vlog i'll get a
bunch of expert judges and then all together will decide what my fake
brown name should be.
This has the potential
to go really
really bad.
Thank you for watching. You guys are all super awesome. Please tell me what you
guys think. Just go ahead and comment in the section down below here and also make sure to subscribe
here because we're going to have a bunch of videos coming up for Off2Kali in
the next couple weeks. Alright, that's all I got. My name is Richard Young from Off2Kali out.
Am I out of frame? No?
"Okay, let's do that making out scene again." "Was something wrong with that last
take?" "No." "Okay." "Cut"