Getting Over Herself Was Never Really An Option
The last person I had to correct for the misspelling of my name was someone from my own employer, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
So writes journalist – and, it seems, attention-seeker - Tahlea Aualiitia:
I was invited to join a panel on representation in pop culture by the ABC News Channel earlier this month, and because the name super (the strap with my name at the bottom of the screen) was added during production, I wasn’t aware my name was spelled incorrectly until after the interview had finished and I was informed by my family and friends.
Faintly ironic, perhaps, at least if you squint. But as claims of victimhood go, and as a basis for an article on how terribly oppressed one is, it needs a little work.
Typos happen and I understand how a slip of the finger on the keyboard turned my surname from Aualiitia into Auakiitia.
Ah, forgiveness. How refreshing. An apology was forthcoming, too, so I’m sure we’re all ready to move on.
But while it was the first time I had done a TV interview, it wasn’t the first time I had seen my name spelled wrong in the media.
Scratch that. Incoming.
Just a month ago, my name was spelled incorrectly by a producer in my own department, the Asia Pacific Newsroom.
Yes, another misspelling of a phonetically unobvious Samoan name. That’s two whole times. A scarring experience, it would seem, one that “can have big impacts among communities that often don’t see themselves reflected in the media.” “I knew I had to call them out,” says Ms Aualiitia, rather proudly.
The next morning, I sent an email to my manager asking to write this piece.
Selflessly, of course, for the greater good.
It’s no coincidence I’m speaking up about this during the latest wave of the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s hard to explain what racism feels like to someone who has never experienced it.
Oh, come on. You knew it was time for some bizarre dramatic ratcheting.
For me, it feels like walking around with a big target hanging around my neck.
Someone misspelled her name, you see.
You don’t know where the next attack — verbal, physical or systemic — might come from, and lived experience means you know it has to do with the colour of your skin.
Systemic name misspelling. It’s a thing now. A racist attack.
And when you're on a public platform like national TV or social media, it feels like that target triples in size.
A sense of proportion is not, I fear, Ms Aualiitia’s strong suit.
Forum
Pages: 
