Alan Greenblatt is a GOVERNING correspondent.
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Demanding Assimilation
The Texas legislature is debating voter identification requirements. Republican State Rep. Betty Brown thinks Asians would make the whole process a lot easier if they'd Anglicize their names.
"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?" Brown said.
Brown later told Ko: "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?"
Texas Democrats have demanded that Brown apologize, which she feels no need to to. Her spokesman told the Houston Chronicle, "They want this to just be about race."
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