Words That Can Hurt Latinos

Recent TV news coverage in San Diego of a confrontation between the controversial — and some say very racist — Minutemen and Latino migrant workers revealed unprofessional use of words that diversity trainers would discourage.

Using the highly-charged language of the Minutemen, the TV field reporter described the Latinos as “illegal aliens.”

A far better description would be to refer to them as “migrant farm workers,” or possibly, “undocumented immigrants.” Those descriptions would take the prejudicial sting out of the phrases.

Additionally, stories of confrontations between the Minutemen and Latinos that describe the former as “patriots,” suggests that the Latinos are not patriotic. That is far from accurate.

Those stories also use slanted information from the Minutemen, such as claiming that Latinos drain tax-funded community resources from local “Americans.”  That ignores the numerous studies that have been made showing that migrant farm workers pay far more in taxes (e.g., for gas and sales taxes) than they use in government services.

Reaction to this blog is invited. Contact me (619) 757-4909 or E-mail at leopowerhere@msn.com.