The Problem with Calling People "Illegal"

Discussions about race can be tricky, if not dangerous. Even the best intentioned folks can find themselves stumbling into the landmines of vocabulary. Once detonated, the person who triggered the explosion needs more than a “But, I’m not a racist” to put out the fire.

Racism is structural, so our words run the danger of reinforcing the structures that exist to disenfranchise groups of people. Some might try to surround a word with nuanced contexts, but racial epithets are fraught with historical meaning, and racist intention may not be necessary for a word to be racist.

Words carry weight, conveying our values and political inclinations, informing our audience where we stand on a given subject. Unfortunately, public debate in the US is often caught between the First Amendment and 'political correctness'.

There are those instances when a person clearly knows that a word is widely considered racist. Take the 'N-word', for instance. Although non-Blacks have argued that they can use the word because some Black people use it (see Dr. Laura), popular knowledge maintains that this is a racist term, and whether it’s permissible for Black people to use the word is for Black people to decide (see Rev. Irene Monroe’s take on the topic).

But there are many cases in which the line isn’t as clear. Readers may have noticed, for example, the current immigration debate jumping between using 'Illegal' and 'Undocumented' to refer to immigrants without legal resident status in the US. While some use the terms interchangeably, for progressive pro-immigrant advocates, they’re actually antonymous.

For years, immigrant rights activists have insisted on the use of 'Undocumented' as a humane and non-racist term. In fact, it is not uncommon to attend an immigrant rights march and see a sign or a t-shirt that reads, “No Human is Illegal.” Even President Obama was criticized for waiting until after his election to begin using the term 'Illegal', something he did not do during his campaign.

Some would argue that 'Illegal' is an accurate term in that it defines a people who entered the country illegally. Yet, given the history of this country, and that 'Illegal' conjures the image of brown faces, this argument sits on shaky ground.

With the goal of eradicating 'Illegal' from the media’s vocabulary, the Applied Research Center has launched the DROP THE I-WORD campaign, arguing that the term 'Illegal' “creates an environment of hate by exploiting racial fear and economic anxiety.” Through a broad range of supporters, the campaign pressures media outlets to “uphold reason, dignity and ethics” in their coverage of the immigration debate and undocumented immigrants experiences.

Anti-immigrant advocates will likely mock this as leftist political correctness gone awry. But for those of us who identify as progressives and are in favor of immigrant rights, it's high time that we re-examine our vocabulary and think twice before uttering the 'I word' again.

Photo Credit: Medmoiselle T