Apparently on the twitter this morning there was a tweet saying the term "illegal" was now considered a racist slur comparable to the "N" word. In effect, calling an undocumented person living in the United States an illegal is as bad as calling an African-American the "N" word. Hardly.
The "N" word has a longstanding history of being a derogatory term to describe African-Americans in an unflattering and harmful way. It is not a descriptive term with a factual undertone. Illegal simply describes the status of the individual. They are in this country without a visa, which means they are here illegally. Calling them illegal is simply stating the facts.
Unfortunately, I was not privy to the actual article and heard about this secondhand from my fellow editor Chris, so I may not be fully informed of the context of the article, but nevertheless it's worth discussing. Maybe their argument was to just call them "illegal" as opposed to "illegal immigrant" was derogatory. Even still, illegal is just a shortened version of illegal alien or illegal immigrant. Despite your views on immigration, it is hard to argue with the fact that they are here illegally, therefore making them illegal. It is simply a term that describes status. I find it comparable to calling someone in jail a prisoner or inmate. The "N" word does not describe status. It is a pejorative term, a common ethnic slur.
I understand we are living in an era of political correctness, but sometimes people get carried away. This is a classic example of going too far to be PC. When we start eliminating statements of fact, where does that leave us? My question is, would it be better to refer to undocumented "visitors" as "illegal aliens" or "aliens?" Maybe we should just call them visitors, permanent tourists or undocumented workers/immigrants. Can you imagine calling them the "undocumented ones?"
This is not about immigration, or how it should be handled, it's about how calling illegal immigrants "illegals" is in no way, shape or form anywhere close to using the "N" word. It is a statement of fact, not a racial slur. Just so we are clear.
At least they are not being referred to as "the unwanted." Then, you might have an argument.
The link to the "Drop the 'I' word campaign": http://colorlines.com/droptheiword/
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