Is the word "Refugee" Racist?

WBEN Radio, Buffalo, NY ^ | September 2, 2005 | Tom Bauerle

[bolingbroke]

I'm sitting at home watching "O'Reilly" on Friday night, and some guy is complaining about the media using the word "REFUGEES" to describe the people who are suffering in the wake of Katrina. The insinuation seems to be that this word is somehow pejorative, and diminishes the humanity of those who have had their lives changed forever. The guy on "O'Reilly" reminded me of an e-mail I received today:

"Dear Tom: I do not have time to call your program today. However, I want to make a statement. I am disturbed that the people of New Orleans and the surrounding areas are called 'refugees' by the media. We need to correct this. The people of New Orleans are American Citizens. Period. As American Citizens they have the same rights and privileges as all Americans. To the caller who stated that these people have an attitude of entitlement, my response is indeed they are entitled to be treated as human beings and are entitled to all services in this great country. Many of them have served in the wars of this country and have paid taxes. I am hoping that the cities around this country will open their doors and absorb these citizens into their communities. As a newspaper columnist I will promote this idea as much as possible..."

In this time of human suffering on an unimaginable scale, I am baffled as to why the word "refugee" has become the target of some people. A "refugee" is simply a person seeking "refuge." There is no racial or class implication whatsoever in the word; nothing to devalue those who are in fact "refugees."

To those who have made the use of this word a "cause," (almost reminds me of people reciting 'talking points')I strongly suggest that your priorities need to be seriously realigned, and that your home suffers from Dictionary Deficit Disorder.

People are DYING with no home to which they can return, and you're making the use of the word "refugee" an issue? Grow up!

[bolingbroke]

Ping

[Texas Eagle]

Is the word "Refugee" Racist?

Only if the correct pronunciation was "rethugee".

[gondramB]

I helped 10 people from Nawlins that described themselves as refugees. I guess they were being racist against themselves. /sarcasm

[msnimje]

It is not Racist but it is not appropriate in this case unless the folks are trying to get away from Mayor Nagin.

refugee A noun 1 refugee an exile who flees for safety

[muawiyah]

Seems to me that on 9/11, as we were fleeing Arlington, Virginia and we didn't know what was going on, or how extensive the attack might be, and the smoke from the burning Pentagon was coming down around our ears, that we were "refugees".

Most of my neighbors out here have been refugees at one time or the other ~ usually from war, but sometimes from economic collapse, or natural disaster.

Fellow next door carried his younger brother on his back all the way from the farthest North in Korea down to Pusan ~ he has no problem with the word "refugee" ~ that's his first word in English.

He was the first person in the neighborhood to come over to check after my safety.

Who is this person who wants to deprive us of our status as blessed people saved by God Himself from the fires of Earthly destruction?

[JoJo Gunn]

Only with the Left could you say that the sun was shining, and you'd be called a racist.

The idiot hippies have cried wolf too long, and in the process removed any power that the word "racist" ever had.

[atomicpossum]

SOMEONE WHO IS SEEKING REFUGE. What the HELL is racist about that?

I'm sick of this PC perversion of the language.

[Sometimes A River]

"The law of gravity is racist " Washington DC Mayor Marion Barry.

Now, considering this attitude, does it surprise anyone when certain people make such claims?

[Prost1]

If you're a black man who is NAACP rep., then anything you call racist is racist, except yourself, of course.

O'Reilly should have pulled the plug on the guy.

[hophead]

My Congressman The Honorable Racist Elijah Cummings thinks it is racist. He has been whining about the word and the slow response of the racist white government of GWB. He thinks if the victims were white they would all have been saved by now. I guess if the local elected officials were black, this would not have been as bad. Oh wait, they are, and they too are blaming the Bush administration even though it is the state government who is first responsible for a tragedy like this. The local and state government are tasked to request help from the Feds. The Feds HAVE NO RIGHT to come in uninvited.

[Soul Seeker]

The media were the ones that started using it. If Refugee is racist, let them answer the charges. :-)

[Ruth C]

I so agree. In stretching the word to include everything they destroyed any meaning. In the bargain they have hurt those people who really do suffer from an incident of racism directed at them.

[weegee]

Well it isn't racist but it isn't the most accurate term:

---

There is no persecution or conflict forcing them to leave. It is mother nature that forced them to leave for safety. The government is keeping them away so that it is easier to get to the remaining ones who need help, to protect the property of everyone who is away, and to begin the cleanup effort.

They are evacuees.

Here in Houston, the mayor doesn't want more evacuees coming to Houston. In some instances families got split apart (some in San Antonio, some in Houston). There WILL be transfers at some point. There has to be. Too many "orphans".

---

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=refugee


ref·u·gee ( P ) Pronunciation Key (rfy-j)
n.
One who flees in search of refuge, as in times of war, political oppression, or religious persecution.

---

[French réfugié, from past participle of réfugier, to take refuge, from Old French, from refuge, refuge. See refuge.]

[Download Now or Buy the Book]
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


Main Entry: ref·u·gee
Pronunciation: "re-fyu-'jE
Function: noun
: an individual seeking refuge or asylum; especially : an individual who has left his or her native country and is unwilling or unable to return to it because of persecution or fear of persecution (as because of race, religion, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion)


Source: Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.


refugee

n : an exile who flees for safety

[wardaddy]

is the word dumbass racist?

[TommyDale]

Seeking refuge must be a racist act now, I suppose.

[Ruth C]

Hmmm, not according to the Mayor. He yelled in his interview that the Feds should have come in and not waited. Of course, he would also have been the first to use that had the Feds come in without being asked as is required by law.

[michaelt]

Tom Petty is a racist?

[jwalsh07]

I don't like it either, the legal meaning of refugee references persons who are outside of their country. These are Americans who have lost their homes.

[wardaddy]

instead of black leaders denouncing racist or otherwise black violence in the aftermath, they fall back on calling whitey the problem

they are unchangable

[roostercogburn]

LOLOL !!!! Absolute classic response.