Paul Bass Photo
A queen returned home from walking her 3‑year-old to school Tuesday morning — and reflected on the time back in her own school days when she learned her name’s royal origins.
Malikah Tappin — her first name means “queen” in Arabic — recalled that painful lesson during a conversation on Elm Street Thursday morning on the “Word on the Street” segment of WNHH FM’s “LoveBabz LoveTalk” program.
Tappin had just turned the corner from the Boulevard to her home block on Elm after walking daughter Ren’ae the one-mile to Reginald Mayor Early Childhood Center. She loves when the weather enables her to drive and appreciate the trees’ fall colors. She cherishes the “me” time with the youngest of her three children.
As usual they stopped at Alma’s Deli on Boulevard to pick up a drink (chocolate milk) and snack (strawberry wafers) for Ren’ae and spoke about the day ahead. Ren’ae was looking forward to art class; she planned to make a picture of a rainbow with unicorns.
“I’m just waiting for her to bring them home,” Tappin said as she headed back inside her home to finish a load of laundry from the night before.
“I love all my kids a lot. I’m just a sucker for them! I can’t help them. … Every child is different. Each child needs attention somewhere. That’s my me time with her.”
Tappin, 32, who’s known by friends as “Elmo,” remembered being teased and bullied in elementary school at Woodward on the east side of town. “They used to pull my hair, make fun of me because I was a nerd. I was a bookworm.”
And they made fun of her name. They called her “Makayla.” Or “Malik.” Or “Malachi” after a character in a children’s TV show.
One day she came home crying about being teased about her name. Her mother put her on the phone with her grandma. Grandma calmed her down — and told her that her name means queen. In fact, her parents had named her Malikah Chaunt’e after an aunt named Chaunt’e Malikah.
“Our name signifies us. Just like our hair — It tells you who you are,” Tappin reflected. “Sometimes later on in life it may have a story behind it. I take pride in my name.”
“I try to protect mine from what I can. But you want them to go through stuff like that so they understand and know the difference,” Tappin said.
Meanwhile, Tappin looks forward to accompanying her children door to door on Halloween, one of her favorite holidays. She dresses up, too. This year she plans to go as a witch.
Click on the video to watch the full conversation with Malikah Tappin on the “Word on the Street” segment of WNHH’s “LoveBabz LoveTalk” program, including discussion of road rage and crashes on Edgewood and the impact of new bike lanes. Click here to subscribe to WNHH FM’s “LoveBabz LoveTalk” and here to subscribe to other WNHH programs.
What a wonderful slice of ordinary people of New Haven’s lives. Love this interview!
I used to live a few blocks away and I love walking in a nice foggy fall day also.
People used to make fun of my name too, and Malikah is right, 5th and 6th graders can be ruthless on teasing each other. We all need to teach our children to spread a little more kindness in this world.