[Applause]
my name is Jota Mesa I recognize that my
name is not a familiar one to most
people that I meet I encounter names
that are new to me as well this is an
occurrence that we should come to expect
because names come from the immense
number of ever evolving languages in the
world yet what we commonly do when we
find ourselves in these new
introductions is we continue on with the
conversation and we likely will just
avoid saying that person’s name through
this in action we have missed out on an
invaluable opportunity to connect with
others on a deeper level I’m sure many
of you have heard of the effective
communication strategy to occasionally
mention the other person’s thing while
you speak to them this leads to a more
meaningful and personal dialogue because
we generally enjoy hearing our names and
brain research supports this with
evidence of a unique activation that
occurs upon hearing our own names rather
than the names of others now because my
name was mostly mispronounced throughout
my life I didn’t always love hearing it
in fact I hated my name I didn’t want to
draw any more attention to it so I would
never correct anyone who mispronounced
it especially not my teachers so in the
second grade I thought it was high time
that I make the executive decision to
change my name so the brainstorming
began as I pondered upon what normal
name would be closest to Jota Jota Hooda
might be closest to Heather I then
thought about my last name eisah which
means Jesus in Arabic and yes everyone
Muslims do love Jesus
so I thought and thought and then I’ve
got it the next day with great pride and
my head held high I announced from now
on you can call me Heather Jesus not my
most creative moment so I’d laugh when I
recall this memory but I’ve also come to
reflect upon why it was that I felt this
need to change my identity see I was
born and raised here in America clearly
this was not a high profile photo shoot
I grew up in a neighborhood where my
family was a minority as Muslims and as
Arabs so as you might imagine there
weren’t too many other hoods walking
around I was an avid reader as a child
and like most American children I
watched some TV and movies all the while
subconsciously I was absorbing the
notions of what the normal names were
according to the names of the characters
I most commonly encountered and then
there was the always hopeful yet
somewhat pitiable search for huija among
the H section of name bracelets and
souvenirs always a letdown but I
understand that those names that I saw
were generally more common in those
places and those names continue to be
the more common names at some lists by
cultural families throughout our history
and still today succumb to the pressure
to abandon the names of their original
languages and cultures in order to give
themselves and/or their children a name
that they have come to understand will
be deemed more acceptable in the society
they live in this pressure to conform
began with the indigenous people of our
land who were literally forced to
conform and today for many people in
their own ways they still feel they are
being forced to conform
and changing our names is just one
example of this another illustration of
this is that so many of us now feel very
removed from that other world that we
come from no longer being able to speak
another language that our ancestors may
have spoken or understanding the
cultures of the people and places of our
roots I get the idea that we should all
follow the same laws in order to live in
civil and safe communities but does that
really mean that we all have to look the
same and sound the same and think the
same we are members of the most powerful
and influential species on earth and one
of the factors that makes that so is our
ability to communicate a great variety
of thoughts and information here in
America this amazingly diverse place
filled with the power of possibilities
that comes from learning from people
with origins from nearly every region on
earth we are in a prime position to take
advantage of those benefits now I myself
am no stranger to those pressures to
conform because I’ve wrestled with them
most of my life what I wasn’t aware of
is that while I was a victim to those
limiting beliefs I was a contributor as
well this epiphany occurred for me in my
undergraduate studies here within the
University of Michigan while taking a
course called multiculturalism in
education it was only then that I
realized that I was racist
I was prejudiced without a second
thought
I openly made statements like well of
course all fill-in-the-blank people do
that or are like that this realisation
shook me to the core how could I have
those thoughts about others when these
are ideas that I’ve been challenged with
virtually as far back in my life as I
could recall I placed all of them in the
same small box that others put me in
that seemed narrow box that I was always
struggling to make my way out of this
humbling truth is not a lonely story I
did what many of us have done and many
of us still do when we dismiss that all
others are as distinctively individual
as each of us truly are I knew right
then and there that if I gave in to the
expected feelings of shame and regret
which no one enjoys I would only
continue to build a wall around the
potential for what I could learn and
what I could contribute to the world
instead I used this pivotal moment to
clarify what the sources of those
beliefs were and how it was that I
couldn’t show empathy when I had all of
the material to do so right there before
me in my own life experiences I started
where we all begin childhood what were
the greatest influences in my life then
it was immediately clear that I couldn’t
blame my parents or my faith which
consistently taught me to show respect
for all of creation
I’ve been considered what other
influences surrounded me and this is
when I began my learning of unconscious
bias you see regardless of our
backgrounds from a very young age we
begin and continue to form unconscious
biases based upon what we’ve been
exposed to and when it comes to various
groups of people we will find that what
we’ve been exposed to is usually limited
and often biased now if I was unable to
interact with a large number of people
from these supposed backgrounds what
beliefs would I form about them based on
the minimal representation I did see and
when it came to images of those who
represented some of my own identities
they weren’t always depicted in the most
positive light either this yielded not
only biases for others but inevitably
biases and allure
self-esteem about my own identities with
this heightened awareness and continued
reflection I began taking down that wall
brick by brick and what I found before
me was this uplifting expanded view and
a greater ability to reach out to my
fellow brothers and sisters in humanity
this led to an undying enthusiasm to
foster unity through knowledge so I
entered one of the most influential
careers to allow me to do so when I
became a teacher on the first day of
school rather than just calling off
names while I took attendance I resolved
to ask my students to teach me their
names now granted this came with a
little bit of resistance with some
students saying oh no Missy said you
just say it the way you want to but I
insisted that they teach me to say their
names the way their parents say their
names this minimally altered beginning
led to children having an increased
confidence in their names and also
having a more genuine interest in
learning about the identities of others
among many other remarkable side effects
of this practice one took me by surprise
when one of my then third graders who
only spoke English approached me and
said Miss ISA
kelud Arturo Hamza and Allah are going
to be in my group and he said it just
like that
he said ha ha
ah rah and these are all sounds that are
not in the English language as adults we
know trying to predict pronounced sounds
that are not in our native language
isn’t usually the easiest feat but for
children it absolutely can be now if
this child ever decides to take on the
wonderful endeavor of learning other
languages and those languages might use
some similar sounds he will now be
better able to communicate fluently in
that language and therefore be better
understood
there were so many teachable moments
that came from this practice and I
really wanted to share them with as many
others as I could so when I couldn’t
find a children’s book focused on this
topic I decided that I needed to write
one myself my book teach us your name is
meant to empower children to teach
others how to pronounce their names
correctly to embrace our awesome
diversity and to show more respect for
their own identities and the identities
of others my hope is that we will soon
swap out the lens in which we use to
view names of applicants candidates
students so that we are just as
comfortable in meeting Ayano
Behati and fabian as we are in meeting
anna Bethenny and Frank
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
my passion for helping others tear down
those walls that limit our potential
continued as I went on to become a
consultant in diversity equity and
inclusion where my slogan is opening
minds connecting worlds and we can begin
doing so through this seemingly simple
idea of the thing we all have in common
around the world we were all given a
name I’m going to use my own name to
illustrate how we might go about doing
this my first name is Hooda
Hooda is pronounced like the hood of a
car
hooda admittedly I don’t love comparing
myself to a car part but whatever works
hi duck repeat after me
Hooda ha music to my ears
Hooda is an Arabic word meaning positive
guidance my middle name is the name of
my father Allah humma and what I stated
just now in Arabic is basically the
equivalent of may God rest his soul it
is a common tradition for many Arabs to
give all of their children the same
middle name of their father’s name one
of the reasons for doing this is that it
allows for a more specific descriptor of
who that individual is so you’re less
likely to confuse me with one of my
cousin’s or someone else who shares by
lessening you’ll also probably be
quicker to figure out whose siblings and
parents are upon hearing their names my
father’s name was Musa Musa is Moses in
Arabic in fact there are so many names
that we hear that may sound foreign to
many of us but there are actually names
of holy mention in the Abrahamic faiths
and if you recall my last name I saw
meaning Jesus models this as well I now
love my name and all that it stands for
I am one who seeks and strives to
deliver
positive guidance I’m an advocate for
freedom and social justice
like Moses was and in doing so I promote
peace and understanding as the beloved
Jesus did now those are just some of the
ways that my name benefits me but how
does it benefit others consider the
knowledge you gain from learning my name
you learned how to pronounce and now
know the meaning of an Arabic word Hoda
you learned that it is common practice
for Arabs to have their father’s names
as their middle names you learned that
there’s an Arabic blessing that is
commonly stated when mentioning those
who have passed away you learn that
names that sound familiar or sound
foreign may actually be more familiar
than we think and you also learn that
Muslims do love Jesus now imagine all of
the conversations that could stem from
those insights and the further knowledge
to be gained even if you have an
apparently common name there is a story
behind that name that represents your
distinct place in our shared world in
your name you will find history
languages locations customs bloodlines
beliefs and complexities that are as
intricate as the tightly woven threads
of the fabric that makes you you our
names serve as symbols of the evolution
of who we are today and we can use them
as keys to open countless doors that may
have otherwise remained closed so let’s
use these keys that we all have to
expand our minds and increase
understanding so as to lay the
foundation for increased unity because
through unity comes strength around the
globe and nearly up we exchange names in
nearly every introduction to another
fellow unique soul our names are where
almost every relationship begins
so let’s utilize that beginning to start
a new norm where rather than
telling us your names you teach us your
names
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
my name is Jota Mesa I recognize that my
name is not a familiar one to most
people that I meet I encounter names
that are new to me as well this is an
occurrence that we should come to expect
because names come from the immense
number of ever evolving languages in the
world yet what we commonly do when we
find ourselves in these new
introductions is we continue on with the
conversation and we likely will just
avoid saying that person’s name through
this in action we have missed out on an
invaluable opportunity to connect with
others on a deeper level I’m sure many
of you have heard of the effective
communication strategy to occasionally
mention the other person’s thing while
you speak to them this leads to a more
meaningful and personal dialogue because
we generally enjoy hearing our names and
brain research supports this with
evidence of a unique activation that
occurs upon hearing our own names rather
than the names of others now because my
name was mostly mispronounced throughout
my life I didn’t always love hearing it
in fact I hated my name I didn’t want to
draw any more attention to it so I would
never correct anyone who mispronounced
it especially not my teachers so in the
second grade I thought it was high time
that I make the executive decision to
change my name so the brainstorming
began as I pondered upon what normal
name would be closest to Jota Jota Hooda
might be closest to Heather I then
thought about my last name eisah which
means Jesus in Arabic and yes everyone
Muslims do love Jesus
so I thought and thought and then I’ve
got it the next day with great pride and
my head held high I announced from now
on you can call me Heather Jesus not my
most creative moment so I’d laugh when I
recall this memory but I’ve also come to
reflect upon why it was that I felt this
need to change my identity see I was
born and raised here in America clearly
this was not a high profile photo shoot
I grew up in a neighborhood where my
family was a minority as Muslims and as
Arabs so as you might imagine there
weren’t too many other hoods walking
around I was an avid reader as a child
and like most American children I
watched some TV and movies all the while
subconsciously I was absorbing the
notions of what the normal names were
according to the names of the characters
I most commonly encountered and then
there was the always hopeful yet
somewhat pitiable search for huija among
the H section of name bracelets and
souvenirs always a letdown but I
understand that those names that I saw
were generally more common in those
places and those names continue to be
the more common names at some lists by
cultural families throughout our history
and still today succumb to the pressure
to abandon the names of their original
languages and cultures in order to give
themselves and/or their children a name
that they have come to understand will
be deemed more acceptable in the society
they live in this pressure to conform
began with the indigenous people of our
land who were literally forced to
conform and today for many people in
their own ways they still feel they are
being forced to conform
and changing our names is just one
example of this another illustration of
this is that so many of us now feel very
removed from that other world that we
come from no longer being able to speak
another language that our ancestors may
have spoken or understanding the
cultures of the people and places of our
roots I get the idea that we should all
follow the same laws in order to live in
civil and safe communities but does that
really mean that we all have to look the
same and sound the same and think the
same we are members of the most powerful
and influential species on earth and one
of the factors that makes that so is our
ability to communicate a great variety
of thoughts and information here in
America this amazingly diverse place
filled with the power of possibilities
that comes from learning from people
with origins from nearly every region on
earth we are in a prime position to take
advantage of those benefits now I myself
am no stranger to those pressures to
conform because I’ve wrestled with them
most of my life what I wasn’t aware of
is that while I was a victim to those
limiting beliefs I was a contributor as
well this epiphany occurred for me in my
undergraduate studies here within the
University of Michigan while taking a
course called multiculturalism in
education it was only then that I
realized that I was racist
I was prejudiced without a second
thought
I openly made statements like well of
course all fill-in-the-blank people do
that or are like that this realisation
shook me to the core how could I have
those thoughts about others when these
are ideas that I’ve been challenged with
virtually as far back in my life as I
could recall I placed all of them in the
same small box that others put me in
that seemed narrow box that I was always
struggling to make my way out of this
humbling truth is not a lonely story I
did what many of us have done and many
of us still do when we dismiss that all
others are as distinctively individual
as each of us truly are I knew right
then and there that if I gave in to the
expected feelings of shame and regret
which no one enjoys I would only
continue to build a wall around the
potential for what I could learn and
what I could contribute to the world
instead I used this pivotal moment to
clarify what the sources of those
beliefs were and how it was that I
couldn’t show empathy when I had all of
the material to do so right there before
me in my own life experiences I started
where we all begin childhood what were
the greatest influences in my life then
it was immediately clear that I couldn’t
blame my parents or my faith which
consistently taught me to show respect
for all of creation
I’ve been considered what other
influences surrounded me and this is
when I began my learning of unconscious
bias you see regardless of our
backgrounds from a very young age we
begin and continue to form unconscious
biases based upon what we’ve been
exposed to and when it comes to various
groups of people we will find that what
we’ve been exposed to is usually limited
and often biased now if I was unable to
interact with a large number of people
from these supposed backgrounds what
beliefs would I form about them based on
the minimal representation I did see and
when it came to images of those who
represented some of my own identities
they weren’t always depicted in the most
positive light either this yielded not
only biases for others but inevitably
biases and allure
self-esteem about my own identities with
this heightened awareness and continued
reflection I began taking down that wall
brick by brick and what I found before
me was this uplifting expanded view and
a greater ability to reach out to my
fellow brothers and sisters in humanity
this led to an undying enthusiasm to
foster unity through knowledge so I
entered one of the most influential
careers to allow me to do so when I
became a teacher on the first day of
school rather than just calling off
names while I took attendance I resolved
to ask my students to teach me their
names now granted this came with a
little bit of resistance with some
students saying oh no Missy said you
just say it the way you want to but I
insisted that they teach me to say their
names the way their parents say their
names this minimally altered beginning
led to children having an increased
confidence in their names and also
having a more genuine interest in
learning about the identities of others
among many other remarkable side effects
of this practice one took me by surprise
when one of my then third graders who
only spoke English approached me and
said Miss ISA
kelud Arturo Hamza and Allah are going
to be in my group and he said it just
like that
he said ha ha
ah rah and these are all sounds that are
not in the English language as adults we
know trying to predict pronounced sounds
that are not in our native language
isn’t usually the easiest feat but for
children it absolutely can be now if
this child ever decides to take on the
wonderful endeavor of learning other
languages and those languages might use
some similar sounds he will now be
better able to communicate fluently in
that language and therefore be better
understood
there were so many teachable moments
that came from this practice and I
really wanted to share them with as many
others as I could so when I couldn’t
find a children’s book focused on this
topic I decided that I needed to write
one myself my book teach us your name is
meant to empower children to teach
others how to pronounce their names
correctly to embrace our awesome
diversity and to show more respect for
their own identities and the identities
of others my hope is that we will soon
swap out the lens in which we use to
view names of applicants candidates
students so that we are just as
comfortable in meeting Ayano
Behati and fabian as we are in meeting
anna Bethenny and Frank
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
my passion for helping others tear down
those walls that limit our potential
continued as I went on to become a
consultant in diversity equity and
inclusion where my slogan is opening
minds connecting worlds and we can begin
doing so through this seemingly simple
idea of the thing we all have in common
around the world we were all given a
name I’m going to use my own name to
illustrate how we might go about doing
this my first name is Hooda
Hooda is pronounced like the hood of a
car
hooda admittedly I don’t love comparing
myself to a car part but whatever works
hi duck repeat after me
Hooda ha music to my ears
Hooda is an Arabic word meaning positive
guidance my middle name is the name of
my father Allah humma and what I stated
just now in Arabic is basically the
equivalent of may God rest his soul it
is a common tradition for many Arabs to
give all of their children the same
middle name of their father’s name one
of the reasons for doing this is that it
allows for a more specific descriptor of
who that individual is so you’re less
likely to confuse me with one of my
cousin’s or someone else who shares by
lessening you’ll also probably be
quicker to figure out whose siblings and
parents are upon hearing their names my
father’s name was Musa Musa is Moses in
Arabic in fact there are so many names
that we hear that may sound foreign to
many of us but there are actually names
of holy mention in the Abrahamic faiths
and if you recall my last name I saw
meaning Jesus models this as well I now
love my name and all that it stands for
I am one who seeks and strives to
deliver
positive guidance I’m an advocate for
freedom and social justice
like Moses was and in doing so I promote
peace and understanding as the beloved
Jesus did now those are just some of the
ways that my name benefits me but how
does it benefit others consider the
knowledge you gain from learning my name
you learned how to pronounce and now
know the meaning of an Arabic word Hoda
you learned that it is common practice
for Arabs to have their father’s names
as their middle names you learned that
there’s an Arabic blessing that is
commonly stated when mentioning those
who have passed away you learn that
names that sound familiar or sound
foreign may actually be more familiar
than we think and you also learn that
Muslims do love Jesus now imagine all of
the conversations that could stem from
those insights and the further knowledge
to be gained even if you have an
apparently common name there is a story
behind that name that represents your
distinct place in our shared world in
your name you will find history
languages locations customs bloodlines
beliefs and complexities that are as
intricate as the tightly woven threads
of the fabric that makes you you our
names serve as symbols of the evolution
of who we are today and we can use them
as keys to open countless doors that may
have otherwise remained closed so let’s
use these keys that we all have to
expand our minds and increase
understanding so as to lay the
foundation for increased unity because
through unity comes strength around the
globe and nearly up we exchange names in
nearly every introduction to another
fellow unique soul our names are where
almost every relationship begins
so let’s utilize that beginning to start
a new norm where rather than
telling us your names you teach us your
names
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: