The Georgia Republican referred to his colleague, Sen. Kamala Harris, as "Ka-ma-la or Ka-ma-la, Kamala-mala-mala," punctuating that with "I don't know, whatever." (Harris has served in the US Senate for almost four years and pronounces her name "COMMA-la," like the punctuation mark.) And too often, the names that are regarded as "too difficult" to learn belong to people of color. To paraphrase what actress Uzo Aduba said her mother told her growing up, "If they can learn to say Tchaikovsky and Michelangelo and Dostoyevsky," people can learn to say Sundar Pichai and Kamala Harris. For example, many South Asians pronounce Kamala, a common Indian name, as "come-lah" or "come-uh-lah."

Source: CNN October 30, 2020 15:46 UTC