Dec 01 2010
Drop the “I-Word”
In the final weeks of Congress’ lame duck session Democratic Senator Harry Reid and members of his party are making a strong push to pass the DREAM Act. If passed the Act would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented youth who attend high school in the US and complete two years of college or military service. In recent days DREAM Activists have rallied in Boston, San Francisco, Providence Rhode Island, and elsewhere. The Boston Globe reports a bilingual media blitz is underway in Massachusetts and Maine to encourage support for it. The last time the DREAM Act came up for a vote was in late September, when it was attached to the Defense Authorization bill. Republican’s protested it’s addition to that bill by filibustering the vote. However the DREAM Act itself has unofficial bi-partisan support, and there are signs that it has a chance of being voted on as a stand alone bill in the coming weeks. The immigration debate is complex and is passionately argued on all sides. At the forefront of any debate are the words used to identify the players and issues. The folks at ColorLines, the online publication of the Applied Research Center, have a campaign underway, “Drop the I-Word”. The I-word under fire is the word is “Illegal” when used in reference to a person or community. Drop the I-Word is calling on individuals, government officials, and members of the media to stop referring to people as “illegal”, saying the term is derogatory and skews the debate.
GUEST: Monica Novoa, Campaign Coordinator of the Drop the “I” Word Campaign
Find out more at www.droptheiword.com.
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