Ta-Nehisi Coates has an interesting post on class and race, commenting on an email he received from a physicial pointing out naming trends among lower-class whites (like "Naveah", or "heaven" spelled backwards):
But also pointed to something about the whole "black pathology" piece. We are always quick to assume that the black poor are somehow particularly dysfunctional, and not simply poor. I read and enjoyed Freakonomics and liked that chapter on "black names." But one wonders why folks don't study the impact of "white working class" names, or the difference in naming traditions amongst the black working class and the black middle classI've been banging this point home over and over, but I think the fact that the major centers of study, theorizing and writing (Manhattan and D.C.) just so happen to be in areas with large amounts of poor black people, almost no poor white (or even working class) white people, really colors the conversation.
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