The first day of school was something I always despised when I was growing up. Not because I was nervous about my classes or my peers, but because I knew once the professor got to the “G’s” on the attendance sheet, there would be a slight pause and a confused, mildly uncomfortable look that would then turn into the butchering of my name. It was something I was extremely self-conscious about for a long time, until I fell in love with the individuality my name gives me.

My name is Talin Hakopyan, but most people call me Tal. If you ask my mom why I was named Talin, she’ll say “ask your dad.” If you ask my dad, he’ll say “I don’t know, I just liked it and wanted my first child to have a name that can be traced to Armenian roots.” For clarification, there is a town called Talin in Armenia that is home to about roughly 5,310 people and is where the 7th-century Cathedral of Talin is located. Also, if a last name ends in -yan or -ian, that person is Armenian.
For example, Kardashian — Hi Kim.

I take pride in being Armenian. It’s something I didn’t understand when I was younger, due to being the only Armenian family in a very white, affluent town, but now my ethnocentrism is at an all time high. So high that I wear a gold plated nameplate necklace that says “Talin,” but written in Armenian letters so it looks like this Թալին. I’ve had a lot of people intensely stare at my chest and try to decode what it could say — no it doesn’t say “naughty” or “purple,” it’s just my name.

The double-plated, yellow-gold necklace that dangles from my neck was a present from my grandma when I turned a year old. It means a lot to me because for the past 20 years it’s been an integral part of my identity and appearance. It’s a conversation starter that gives me the opportunity to tell people about my name, my culture and myself.

I’ve been wearing this necklace around my neck for longer than political correctness and cultural appropriation have been heated topics of discussion. I consider myself an incredibly PC person. I see how people believe that people get “offended by everything,” but I live my life very respectful of other people and culture. However, I can spot a reach when I see one.

I came across an article about nameplate necklaces, where the author is basically referring to to the necklace as something exclusive to those who are black and Latinx. For fucks sake, the article is called “Nameplate necklaces: This shit is for us.”

Who is “us” though?

I’m not black. I don’t consider myself white. I am Armenian. If anything, I could be categorized as Eurasian, but I’m a first-generation woman of color who believes that nameplate necklaces are not exclusive to one culture or minority.

It infuriates me how this could be something that is considered a racial issue, when it’s truly a piece of jewelry that has never been exclusive to one distinct culture.

My grandma had one back when she was a teenager in Iran. My mom also had one that was just her first initial, because gold was expensive when Armenia was under the USSR. My Italian journalism adviser had one growing up, as well. These necklaces can be traced back to many different cultures and are something women should be able to bond over, not be petty over.

We live in a world where women are still seen as inferior to men. This can be seen in the past week of American history. An incredibly talented and qualified woman is not our president because of people not mobilizing enough to see that Donald Trump does not care about minorities — women included.

The author brings up the history that comes with the names of black Americans and a statistic that a third of African-American girls have names belonging to no one else in their state.

“For black Americans, names can be a form of resistance to white supremacy. Plucked from our homes in West Africa and forced into chattel slavery, bodily autonomy wasn’t the only thing stolen from us. Our names were stolen, too.”

What the author of the article failed to mention, when speaking about the fact that slaves were stripped of their names, are the similar struggles that other cultures faced.

After the Armenian Genocide, many Armenian’s dispersed to other areas and took the -yan/-ian off of their last names in order to survive. After the Holocaust, Jewish people shortened their last names for the same reason.

I understand all the history that goes into slaves being forced to change their names when they forcefully came to America and the history lesson the author provides you with, but are we really going to sit here and nitpick something so minor, when there are so many more issues involving minorities?

White supremacists have a messiah that built his political platform on racist, misogynistic, homophobic and xenophobic comments and won — yet we’re going to be elitist over a necklace. We have bigger things to now worry about.

There are things that are blatantly culturally appropriated. Do I think everyone should have the freedom to wear a bindi or hijab? Absolutely not. Do I think sports teams having mascots such as the “Indians” or the “Redskins” is fine? Hell no. Should certain traditional garb and makeup, such as geisha clothing and calaca face paint, be excused just because it’s Halloween? Still no.

Do I think creating a divide between those who are “allowed” to wear a type of jewelry is unnecessary? Yes.

She goes on to say, “White girls and women have other stories, but they don’t have ours. It never feels like a homage to me when I see a white woman rocking a nameplate. Instead, it comes across as nothing more than an awkward replica — true “biters” of our shit.”

It’s not your shit. Sorry, but it’s not.

To get my point across in different terms, it’s similar to when James Cameron plainly titled his 2009 blockbuster, “Avatar,” making it difficult for any other movie to use the word in their title. Fast forward to 2010 and M. Night Shyamalan’s adaption of the popular cartoon, “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” was forced by studio executives to be titled, “The Last Airbender,” because “Avatar” is James Cameron’s shit.

It’s so broad that no one should be able to claim it. Just like nameplate necklaces. If you still have difficulty seeing where I’m coming from, imagine if the article was about tattoos. In Chicano cultures, your last name holds so much importance that many Chicano people will get it tattooed on their bodies — however, tattooed names are not exclusive to them.

There are plenty of more serious issues that this stance of righteousness should be voiced about. Whether it has to do with all minorities, or just black people, why is a necklace something we’re going to tackle when police brutality and the Dakota Access Pipeline are much more important. Donald J. Trump is our president-elect. That should terrify everyone.

There is a stigma that everyone gets offended over everything. That being politically correct is ruining our society. I don’t agree with that, but I do think there are bigger fish to fry at this point.

Our names are all important to us. No one is stripping you of that. Take pride in your given name and wear that proudly on your chest, but don’t put down other people for wanting to do the same.

No one is trying to “bite your shit.” It’s a necklace.