The Battle of the English Language continues.
There is an organized movement by the Applied Research Center, of which Rashad Robinson of Color of Change is a Board member, to ban the use of the term “illegal alien” as racist.
What race is an illegal alient? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves with subversive questions.
Mónica Novoa writing for the ARC’s website Colorlines, cries racism:
The i-word in any form (“illegals”, “illegal alien” and “illegal immigrant”) is packed with ideas about who immigrants are and what their role is in society and in this nation. Whether used by a reader in a newspaper’s comment section, or in the Supreme Court as it was this week in Arizona v. the United States, The i-word is the furthest from neutral language and communicates anti-immigrant animus that has over time become deeply embedded and accepted throughout media and government institutions.
Okay, I’m with you so far. Calling someone an illegal alien suggests that they are in the country illegally, and that’s mean. Now get to the racism part:
To our great disappointment this week, Justice Sonia Sotomayor and others used the terms “illegal immigrant,” “illegal alien,” and “criminal alien” during proceedings over SB 1070.
So it’s not racist, is it, because Justice Sotomayor used it, right? (I should have stopped reading here, but alas):
These metaphors mirror and reinforce language accepted in the media by anti-immigrant extremists, so … the immigrant becomes the alien, the alien becomes the illegal, and the illegal becomes the Mexican.
Wait, what?
The term “illegal” conflates criminality with immigration issues and brings the taint of criminality to a non-criminal process. And it promotes bias against Latinos and people with brown skin regardless of migratory status.
Ah, there’s the punchline, but it is a logical jump. The term “illegal alien” does not describe a race or skin color. Someone here illegally from Ireland is just as much an “illegal alien” as someone here illegally from Mexico.
Bill O’Reilly did a great job destroying Ms. Novoa (via DaleyGator h/t Zilla):
This is all a charade. It’s the typical Color of Change race card shakedown.
The advocates of eliminating the term “illegal” want to alter immigration policies. They can’t win on the merits of open borders, so they smear others as racist.
It’s just a dishonest word game using false accusations of racism as a political lever.
Back to the subversive question: What race is an illegal alien?
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