2006 Mail

We are all following with interest the journalist coverage of the immigration bill. Last week, upon receiving Newsweek Magazine, I sent them a protest for using inflammatory language in their presentation, especially the cover. Specifically, the term "Illegals" was used to classify the undocumented immigrants. The Hispanic Journalists Association and the Asian American Journalists Association have asked their members to refrain from using the term "illegal" as a noun because of its inflammatory nature. Experience has shown that this term expresses an attitude applied generally to Latino people in the United States.

Anh B. Do, a columnist for the Orange County Register and editor of Nguoi Viet 2 (an English-language Vietnamese weekly newspaper) responded with a request for an interview on the topic for her OC Register column.

That column, published today, expresses Ms. Do's viewpoint that is in agreement with the AAJA, the term should not be used in journalism. Here is a link to the column:

http://www.ocregister.com/columns -- look for her name and column, "Asian Affairs."

Because I was interviewed and am extensively quoted, Anh Do has shown me some of the response from readers. She found the racism quite predictable, but I was shocked by it. She did not show me the ones with profanity toward her in them. All but about 5% of the responses have been negative.

Some who are receiving this letter will remember the support given in 1999 to a black high school student in San Jose who was expelled, nearly losing his graduation, because he hit a white student (off campus) who was taunting him with the N-word. The only person arrested was the black student. This issue was resolved by intervention of community leaders with the City Council, who advised the Police Commission of their inappropriate response. Educators at San Jose City College (where I was teaching at the time) responded with a forum for students in which they had the opportunity to express their viewpoints. The event drew a packed room at 8 a.m. Students in my history classes had the opportunity to earn extra credit by attending meetings of the San Jose City Council when the issue was discussed, and reporting back to the class.

While the writers to Anh Do are correct in that they have the right to use such language (one even citing the N-word in a typical argument) the point that was made to Newsweek (who have not responded) and by Anh Do, a journalist and editor, is that using "illegal" as a noun should not be used by professionals to cater to the lowest common denominator to sell papers.

With appreciation for your attention,

Jean Libby, editor, Viet Am Review
http://vietamreview.blogharbor.com