South Carolina Republican Representative Nancy Mace was criticized by two Black CNN panelists after she purposely pronounced Vice President Kamala Harris' name wrong multiple times.
Mace was joined on CNN's Thursday broadcast of NewsNight with Abby Phillip by Michael Eric Dyson, a professor of African American studies at Vanderbilt University, and political commentator Keith Boykin.
Initially, she pronounced "Kamala" correctly but then quickly shifted, emphasizing the second syllable instead of the first.
Harris, who has repeatedly clarified the correct pronunciation of her name, often suggests remembering it as "comma-la." The traditional pronunciation of the Indian name is closer to "com'la."
When called out, Mace retorted:
"I will say Kamala’s name any way that I want to."
The situation grew heated from there.
You can watch their exchange in the video below.
As Mace proceeded to criticize Harris' policies, Boykin said:
"If I purposely mispronounced your name, that would not be appropriate."
Dyson added:
"You’re normalizing that kind of viciousness, man. You’re disrespecting the woman.”
Mace disregarded these statements before Dyson continued with a little history lesson:
“This congresswoman is a wonderful human being. But when you disrespect Kamala Harris by saying you will call her whatever you want, I know you don’t intend it to be that way, that’s the history and legacy of white disregard for the humanity of Black people.”
A miffed Mace accused Dyson of calling her a "racist":
“Oh, so now you’re calling me a racist. That is B.S. That is complete B.S."
Dyson quickly responded:
“I just said you weren't a racist. ... What is disgusting is your disrespect of her."
As the panel yelled, “Kamala! Kamala!”—with the correct pronunciation—Boykin turned to Mace and said:
“It’s Kamala! You’re doing this on purpose, congresswoman!”
But Mace doubled down and later took to X, formerly Twitter, to respond to these criticisms:
"The Left would rather talk about pronouns and pronunciation than policy."
You can see her post below.
She was swiftly called out.
Harris has long been accustomed to educating various audiences and potential voters on how to pronounce her name, even making it a part of her Senate campaign ads.
In 2017, she explained on the podcast The Axe Files that she often helps people by saying, "Well, just think of a comma and add a 'la' at the end."
However, on the campaign trail, Harris' name has been deliberately mispronounced by former President Donald Trump and other Republicans, who often refer to her as "ka-MALA" or "Camilla," mocking her name in various ways. At a rally in July, Trump even remarked that he didn't care about the pronunciation, saying, "I couldn't care less if I mispronounce it."
Myles Durkee, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan, explains that intentionally mispronouncing someone's name, especially when it is less common in the American context, serves as a dog whistle to "other" that person, implying they are less American and less deserving of the respect of having their name pronounced correctly.
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