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Use of the Word 'Refugee' Stirs Debate

By JOCELYN NOVECK, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 11 minutes ago

NEW YORK - What do you call people who have been driven from their homes with only the clothes on their backs, unsure if they will ever be able to return, and forced to build a new life in a strange place? News organizations are struggling for the right word.

Many, including The Associated Press, have used "refugee" to describe those displaced by the wrath of Hurricane Katrina.

But the choice has stirred anger among some readers and other critics, particularly in the black community. They have argued that "refugee" somehow implies that the displaced storm victims, many of whom have been black, are second-class citizens — or not even Americans.

"It is racist to call American citizens refugees," the Rev.
Jesse Jackson said, visiting the Houston Astrodome on Monday. Members of the
Congressional Black Caucus have expressed similar sentiments.

Others have countered that the terms "evacuees" or even "displaced" are too clinical and not sufficiently dramatic to convey the dire situation that confronts many of Katrina's survivors.

President Bush, who has spent days trying to deflect criticism that he responded sluggishly to the disaster, weighed in on Tuesday. "The people we're talking about are not refugees," he said. "They are Americans and they need the help and love and compassion of our fellow citizens."

The 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention describes a refugee as someone who has fled across an international border to escape violence or persecution. But the Webster's New World Dictionary defines it more broadly as "a person who flees from home or country to seek refuge elsewhere, as in a time of war or of political or religious persecution."

The criticism has led several news organizations to ban the word in their Katrina coverage. Among them are The Washington Post and the Boston Globe.

"We haven't used the word since the beginning of the crisis," said Kenneth Cooper, the Globe's national editor. "Some of us had different reasons, but we all came to the same conclusion: not to use it."

The AP and The New York Times are among those continuing to use the word where it is deemed appropriate.

"The AP is using the term `refugee' where appropriate to capture the sweep and scope of the effects of this historic natural disaster on a vast number of our citizens," said Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll. "Several hundred thousand people have been uprooted from their homes and communities and forced to seek refuge in more than 30 different states across America. Until such time as they are able to take up new lives in their new communities or return to their former homes, they will be refugees."

The Times was adhering to a similar policy.

"We have not banned the word `refugee,'" said spokeswoman Catherine Mathis. "We have used it along with `evacuee,' `survivor,' `displaced' and various other terms that fit what our reporters are seeing on the ground. Webster's defines a refugee as a person fleeing `home or country' in search of refuge, and it certainly does justice to the suffering legions driven from their homes by Katrina."

William Safire, who writes the weekly "On Language" column for The New York Times Magazine, said he did not believe the term "refugee" had any racial implications.

"A refugee can be a person of any race at all," he said. "A refugee is a person who seeks refuge."

He first suggested using the term "hurricane refugees." After thinking it over, though, he said he would probably simply use the term "flood victims," to avoid any political connotations.


I'm personally inclined to think along the lines that a refugee is someone taking refuge from anything and that race has no bearing on it at all. Anyone else think this is a non-issue in the face of the massive relief and rebuilding efforts that are needed currently?

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I have a History degree & a Journalism degree & know that such words can cause debate. One graduate History course on immigration spent several weeks discussing the word "ethnicity". Is it comparable to race, for example.

I studied refugee camps, displaced persons, etc. For me, refugee always meant fleeing the country. I definitely don't see it as racist. Political, maybe.

I'll go with the Times, however, if I were editing copy, I'd probably replace refugee with evacuee.

I look at a refugee as a person who flees their country due to political oppression, religious persecution or due to war. They are people who come from many different countries and I do not veiw this term as racist at all. I just don't think the media was using the right word to decribe the victims of this hurricane.

These poor people are being evacuated due to the horrific results of a storm....they are IMO evacuees.

I associate refugee with “seeking asylum” and “exile”. It usually has a political connotation.


The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has the following definitions for refugee:
1. Refugees have to be outside their country of origin;
2. The reason for their flight has to be a fear of persecution;
3. The fear of persecution has to be well-founded
4. The persecution has to result from one or more of the 5 grounds listed in the definition, that is race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion;
5. They have to be unwilling or unable to seek the protection of their country.



From time to time I’ve come across a newer form of refugee, the “economic refugee”:
http://mondediplo.com/1999/03/10immig
http://globalenvision.org/library/8/378/

, but if you scroll down the UNHCR’s page, you’ll see that they are not buying that at all!
http://www.unhcr.org.au/basicdef.shtml



The Rev. Jackson seems to be confused about the term.

I truely don't think of the word as a racial slur. I am. however, in agreement with Steph and BIBI...evacuee or displaced is the better of the terms.

And just a sidenote here: Oh Jesse Jackson? Stick a sock in it for once and stop making everything you get involved in racial!!!!! Since when are you the most politically correct person on the planet...not to mention the most articulate????

Geezzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! He's an ass!

^^^^^^my opinion...and not necessarily that of the establishment/participants here at Pixies!

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~Thomas Dewar~

^^^^^^^^^you got that right

Please take the sock out of your mouth Jesse,or we won't be able to hear what you have to say. The media again struck gold when it reported some passing remarks by Jesse Jackson on the use of the term refugee and it's racial implications. The questions he was truely raising was why? The government had Katrina tracked as she swept through the Caribbean and swept accross the gulf of Mexico to it's destination with one of the most historic and beautiful cities in this country.The officials knew within 72 hours where and how hard Katrina was going to hit. They also knew that thousands of people will flock to a desigated spot as a last resort.These people had no other way out of the city,they were poor and most of them were black.How could it be that no one thought to stock this spot with water,food, a red cross station,port a potties,an organized plan, NOTHING.Could it have beenthat these people didn't matter?

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words. that's all. and technically, refugee can be defined as one who seeks refuge. these people are seeking refuge.

i got some words for people wasting their time griping about words....

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The forest would be very quiet if no other birds sang than those who sing the best * Henry van Dyke

some fairly sordid tales, rambles, and anecdotes
Hypothetically Speaking * Something More * Cammy Interrupted * An Experimental Vacation * Masked * so..damn..hot * Thank You * My toy, his idea * no.19 Maple Lane * I Have A Surprise For You * Yesterday * In a Quiet Kitchen * help me decide * untitled prose * more untitled prose

Not only did they know, but it actually wasn't as bad as was feared. Imagine if it had been a direct hit at full speed.
As you say, were they ready? NO. Did they seem to care that they weren't? No.

(From an article on cnn.com)
"Parts of the planned schedule will be set aside, said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, including legislation on the estate tax.

Congressional leaders were meeting with Bush at the White House on Tuesday, and senators were to get a briefing from Cabinet secretaries later that day on the Gulf Coast recovery efforts.

Frist left no doubt in a news conference Monday that lawmakers would be consumed with helping Katrina victims and conducting hearings on the slow federal response.

He said there would be "finger pointing where it's deserved," and recognition that "mistakes have been made.""

Wait, this administration will recognize that mistakes have been made? That'll be a first. Too bad it took the destruction of a US city (second if you consider NYC) to get there. The finger pointing, that's already started.

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So much dissent here folks.

Of course "refugee" is a racist term. It discribes people of the multicoloured race who come

from many lands, and who have the racial attribute of not dying in whatever corner of the globe

they lived in and had the gall and front to attempt to flee whatever is killing them.

Where usually these folk are found in convenient places like Africa, occasionally there are

outbreaks of SRS (sudden refugee syndrome) in better reported places.

This race was notably associated with the Great Plague, the Blitz and more recently Hurricane Katrina.

One of the problems with this race is that they are very hard to pick from the rest of us untill

they start refugeeing, which makes isolating and culling quite difficult.

We probably have a fifth column of refugees hiding in out midst waiting for "the day".

Ooops, my dictionary defines race as "a sudden rushing attempt to be first". Still, maybe . . . .

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Calm, quiet, smooth, devastating

^^^ What Wyndhy said.

That ‘political correctness’ can even be a topic in ANYBODIES mind at this time of monumental crisis is indicative of the making of this monumental crisis.

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I can't think of the word that correctly describes someone who uses a situation to promote other issues that are not relevant to those who have suffered the situation.

Oh yes I can - its a hijacker. Oh shit.

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Madam, if you were my wife, I would take it.

the whole situation is unfortunate, and I didn't think much of the term quite honestly particularly as a negative connotation due to the color of the group's skin. But alas, as I've spent far too much time in front of fox news and msnbc, I've come to finally question the media in general. It's great that they are trying desperately to report the news fast, but what happened to a grain of accuracy? What happened to waiting an extra 90 seconds to make sure that you are reporting facts? We mulled this over at the water cooler and came to the conclusion that members of the media should be subjected to an ethical standard that many professionals are. CPA comes to mind, in order to be awarded those three little letters there's an ethics exam and statement to adhere to and be held to. I think it wouldn't be such a bad idea for journalism/media to have something of a similar nature - at least it might keep the news a smidgeon more honest.

Another nuance of the english language that causes confusion and uproar.

refuge - shelter or protection from danger or distress
refugee - one who flees for safety especially to a foreign country

So a person seeking refuge is not a refugee? Or someone who flees for safety but not to a foreign country is not a refugee? Or are they a different type of refugee?

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Though I am different from you,
We were born involved in one another.

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.

Complete surrender should not just come at moments in which one faces overwhelming odds, but in the calm when it seems one is personally in complete control of one's life.

well, i was gonna say they can suck my left breast and make my right one jealous. is that what you were thinking too?

__________________
Trees give peace to the souls of men * Nora Waln

The forest would be very quiet if no other birds sang than those who sing the best * Henry van Dyke

some fairly sordid tales, rambles, and anecdotes
Hypothetically Speaking * Something More * Cammy Interrupted * An Experimental Vacation * Masked * so..damn..hot * Thank You * My toy, his idea * no.19 Maple Lane * I Have A Surprise For You * Yesterday * In a Quiet Kitchen * help me decide * untitled prose * more untitled prose