UCLA student government bans term 'illegal immigrant,' states that it is racist

Story.

The student government of UCLA called for a complete ban of the use of the term "illegal immigrant" because they feel that using it is racist, or no different than calling a black person the N word.

Part of the reason for the ban is due to the recent appointment of former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano as University of California president. Napolitano oversaw the deportation of illegal immigrants while in office.

Do these people have a point? Or is this overkill all for the cause of trying to be politically correct when referring to people who are not in the country legally?

I would think college students would be smart enough to realize being in a country illegally has nothing to do with race...

I would think college students would be smart enough to realize being in a country illegally has nothing to do with race...

Pirate700

Yes, the only one I dislike is illegal alien...pspdseagle

[QUOTE="pspdseagle"]Yes, the only one I dislike is illegal alien...Pirate700

how is a term not related to race considered racist?

[QUOTE="Pirate700"]

[QUOTE="pspdseagle"]Yes, the only one I dislike is illegal alien...dave123321

I would think college students would be smart enough to realize being in a country illegally has nothing to do with race...

Pirate700

I voted "No", meant "Yes". These people are idiots, why should be obvious. And just how are they expecting to enforce this ban? Have the Gestapo beat people if they utter it on campus?TheGrat1

probably make it something that can be reported to the school for saying or printing 

Is there a competition in this country that I don't know of or something?

[QUOTE="Pirate700"]

I would think college students would be smart enough to realize being in a country illegally has nothing to do with race...

ad1x2

[QUOTE="ad1x2"][QUOTE="Pirate700"]

I would think college students would be smart enough to realize being in a country illegally has nothing to do with race...

Pirate700

Laws do not exist to rule the people. You don't abuse laws for your petty preferences. Laws exist to keep society orderly, functional. These people attaching more value to words than to problems in the real world have no business uttering the word law.

People should be free to use terms even if they are using them in a derogatory waydave123321

[QUOTE="dave123321"]People should be free to use terms even if they are using them in a derogatory wayPirate700

How is that even remotely racist? It's a purely clinical description of status.

I can surely see how "illegal immigrant" can be used as an insult toward someone of latin decent. Plus the term also brands people without full documentation as being some how criminal which isn't true in many cases. 

While I don't agree with banning the term I do think its a good way to start the conversation of how to more fairly look at people without their full documentation. 

how is a term not related to race considered racist?

lostrib

damn, are the UCs lowering their standards for admissions?  This is ridiculous.

I do think that bigotry against illegal immigrants is a significant problem, and I can see how it can go hand-in-hand with racism. But I don't see a compelling reason to ban that term, let alone any term used for a group. ghoklebutter

Alright look this war on words is nothing more than fiddlesticks and will lead to nothing but disaster. All in good fun it has gone on long enough and should stop where it stands.
Someone 'guesses' that something is racist because of something. Which to someone else means he assumes it, and is therefore considered racist in and of itself. Don't you see where this is going? Soon enough you can't even consider something that is racist because you'd be a racist. It's starting to interfere with the very understanding of reality or the nature of thought and debate itself.
Soon enough you'll find people proudly becoming pro-racists because they want freedom of expression. Then we're even further from home. This is helping nobody. The law isn't meant to restrain discussion or ideas. They should cease this foolish display at once.
If these people want to come across as if they matter, then perhaps they should discuss something that matters.

I would think college students would be smart enough to realize being in a country illegally has nothing to do with race...

Pirate700

Oh the good ol liberal arts college group think. Bunch of people with the exact same ideologies agreeing with each other. Same happens in those crazy conservative groups. Happens in any group situation where there is very little opposing ideas. Eventually they continue to agree with each other until they lose touch with reality.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink

It's a situation I often see today.

Illegal immigrants, there I said it. Bite me UCLA. Master_Live

RACIST!!!!

Illegal immigrants, there I said it. Bite me UCLA. Master_Live

damn pseudo-intellectual, over-privileged kids.

If they are in this country illegally, and they are alien to this country. Well I don't see what the problem is. Here's the thing, you come here illegally, take jobs pay minimul taxes and get free education/healthcare and then complain because you are called exactly what you are? I don't get it....

I'm all for a utopian society where every has a pony that craps rainbows, but come on, at some point we have to call a spade a spade. This is getting rediculous.

UCLA is a good college too..

California and their politically correct nonsense at it again.  

There is nothing racist about calling an individual who has entered a country unlawfully, "illegal immigrant."

Many of you may mock this but you fail to realize that innocent phrases like this do grow to become spiteful and hurtful to groups of people. It's not like the N word just popped out of nowhere. Capitan_Kid

Story.

The student government of UCLA called for a complete ban of the use of the term "illegal immigrant" because they feel that using it is racist, or no different than calling a black person the N word.

Part of the reason for the ban is due to the recent appointment of former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano as University of California president. Napolitano oversaw the deportation of illegal immigrants while in office.

Do these people have a point? Or is this overkill all for the cause of trying to be politically correct when referring to people who are not in the country legally?

ad1x2

[QUOTE="Capitan_Kid"]Many of you may mock this but you fail to realize that innocent phrases like this do grow to become spiteful and hurtful to groups of people. It's not like the N word just popped out of nowhere. guynamedbilly

PC police is pretty stupid.

They're illegally here as immigrants.

What exactly happens if you say it? What is the punishment? This is beyond stupid.Toxic-Seahorse

[QUOTE="guynamedbilly"][QUOTE="Capitan_Kid"]Many of you may mock this but you fail to realize that innocent phrases like this do grow to become spiteful and hurtful to groups of people. It's not like the N word just popped out of nowhere. Capitan_Kid

Do you ever stop for a second and think about what you just said sounds? Totalitarian. Maybe the UCLA students should pass a resolution to organize students for going into local neighborhoods to educate citizens on immigration policy in which, among other things, they can discuss the ethnic composition of the current immigrant population. But hey, that would actually require some effort, better to "ban" things from mount Olympus up there in the student government body and pad each other back for how much they have accomplished.

if the term is used commonly in a derogatory sense to insult hispanics, even ones who are legal citizens, and not for the proper use to describe a person who is residing in this country illegally, then i can see the case being made to avoid it's use. but then WTF do you call illegal immigrants? 

  just call them all "canadians" and no one will get upset.

Let's say that it is the cause of all evil and they find a way to uphold a draconian law that would ban the usage of the words "illegal immigrant" in certain contexts. Then what would stop people from coming up with a new derogatory term to be used to describe the affected group of people?

Even if you would give in to this madness, it would not be a solution.