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How can the term “illegal” be considered an ethnic slur?
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Billed as a "fiesta of `illegals,'" the event this evening was meant as a sarcastic jab at a much-hated word among immigrant groups wanting to mark national "citizenship day" by highlighting the success of community leaders who were at one time in the U.S. "illegally."
But before the party on the Near West Side even kicked off, Latino immigrant chat groups blasted organizers for being insensitive, with one e-mail asking a Spanish version of the proverb "With friends like these, who needs enemies?"
. . . many Mexican immigrants equate "illegal" with other ethnic slurs.
"I don't want to hear that word any more in front of my family," said Salvador Pedroza, president of the Little Village Chamber of Commerce, who arrived legally to the U.S. when he was 15 and, though included in the event's program, considered its billing offensive. "What really [angered] me is that, in this case, our own people are using it."
"We want them to come out and say: `Do I seem `illegal?' No, right? So, let's leave behind the [negative] myth attached to those who are asking for documents," Arreola said before the event.
'Fiesta of "illegals"' tries sarcasm, gets criticism - Chicago Breaking News (http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/09/fiesta-of-illegals-tries-sarcasm-gets-criticism.html - broken link)
oh i dont know... the same way the word "darkie" can have a negative conototation.
if you are trying to say that there is not a negative reference or specific imagery in popular culture with respect to "illegal alien", you are mistaken. i wouldnt like it if someone called my kids illegals. would you like it is someone called your kid "illegal" on the playground?
we all know that when idiots use it (especially like on this board where i am often accused of being an illegal myself or an IA lover) there is an idea and image conjured up. it has a negative, offenzive meaning.
and there is constatntly an ethnicity attached to this idea of illegality. dont play coy.
you are smarter than this.
and again, my big deal is : why is this concept and US problem of illegal immigration not taken seriously.
parties, costumes. whats next, take an illegal to work day?
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Originally Posted by Benicar
How can the term “illegal” be considered an ethnic slur?
'Fiesta of "illegals"' tries sarcasm, gets criticism - Chicago Breaking News (http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/09/fiesta-of-illegals-tries-sarcasm-gets-criticism.html - broken link)
oh i dont know... the same way the word "darkie" can have a negative conototation.
Seriously, that's your example, you racist!
No, it would be like going back 175 years in time and calling them a slave.
Your trying to turn the politically correct term, into a racial slur, which shows you as the racist.
How can the term “illegal” be considered an ethnic slur?
It can't, pure and simple. Unless of course you're just that desperate because none of the other tired old jabs are working anymore.
I guess in a society that is still clinging to the over-the-top political correctness we should henceforth refer to "illegals" as "people who snuck into this country and are living here in direct violation of the the immigration laws of this sovereign nation". Would that make them happy?
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"That word [illegal] is not a joke and shouldn't be used as a joke,"
I'm certainly not laughing over it and I definitely don't use it as a joke.
Originally Posted by Venom
It can easily be used as an ethnic slur.
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Originally Posted by BentBow
How so?
Your either here legally, or your here illegally. How much more PC, do you want to get. Would drawing you a picture make it any clearer?
Exactly. “Illegals” is not a racial slur. That’s just silly. An illegal, in this context, is simply an immigrant not here legally. What’s the big deal?
Illegal alien should be a slur - just like embezzler, con artist, and so on should be slurs. An illegal is someone who has no respect for USA laws and does not understand the need for fair, legal, and balanced immigration laws. They make a choice to break whatever laws get in their way and there's no reason to praise them.
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Arreola said before the event.
