Hi friends,
A few weeks ago, I was discussing with my Israeli cousins my plans to go back to school. When I mentioned that I want to teach English to the city’s underserved migrant population, my young cousin, Kinneret, asked about my word choice.
Why migrant and not immigrant?
Kinneret was born and raised in Israel, so I was impressed by her astute question. Moreover, I realized that I didn’t have a good answer. I wondered aloud if it was somehow a more inclusive term than immigrants or refugees.
And then I read an interesting piece that explored this peculiar shift in the language we use to talk about people who come to the US from elsewhere.
The author, Debbie Nathan, observes that the word migrant is now widely used on both the left and the right, and she attributes some of the recent dehumanization of immigrants to this peculiar shift in the language:
It used to be fairly rare to call human beings migrants. From the 16th to 19th centuries, the word mostly referred to birds and other animals that moved back and forth between different climates and terrains every year, not from desire or planning but from pure, immutable instinct.
By the early 20th century, “migrant” in the U.S. had commonly come to refer to Mexicans crossing north to do agricultural labor in states including Texas, California, and Colorado, following seasonal crops. The notion was that, unlike immigrants who uprooted their lives to resettle, migrants came for economic reasons and didn’t fully intend to stay.
It seems that the term migrant is not inclusive. Even people who come to the US hoping to return home are not behaving instinctively; they are making complex, human decisions about what is best for them and their families.
Furthermore, many people seeking asylum or arriving in the US through any of the various legal means — and even those who arrive without papers, hoping to resolve their status later — are hoping to remain here.
Avoid using the term migrant to refer to fellow humans. Immigrant is the inclusive term for people who come to live here.
[They are] charged with disrupting public services, making false alarms, complicity, telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing in the filing, which asked Clark County Municipal Court to find that there is probable cause and to issue warrants for Trump's and Vance's arrests.
Ohio state law permits private citizens and groups to file criminal complaints. In order for the charges to move forward, a hearing must be scheduled.
No hearing has yet been scheduled. Let’s give Clark County a few days to schedule a hearing before I have to figure out how we contact them.
Meanwhile, we should call on public officials to stop repeating the lies and to demand accountability for those who spread dangerous falsehoods.
Stand with the Haitian Community: Demand Accountability for Harmful Rhetoric. This petition is from MoveOn.
The hosts of Prosecuting Donald Trump speculated in their latest episode, not yet transcribed, that civil charges may follow for Vance and Trump.
They remind listeners that Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss, two election workers in Georgia, won a large settlement from Rudy Giuliani for
Free speech has always had limits, and the harmful lies that continue to issue forth from Trump and Vance have caused very real danger to Springfield’s immigrant community, just as Giuliani’s lies endangered Freeman and Moss.
Someone shared a funny post with me that showed a picture of Eric Adams, who was arraigned today, with the text:
Suddenly really into bail reform, restorative justice, and prison abolition.
The key to being human, of course, is to be concerned about other people’s rights and well-being even when you are safe and protected.
Still, Adams is a religious man and so I will pray (in my atheistic way) for him to become more fully human as his case is adjudicated.
Adams was released on his own recognizance. Lots of folks are detained because they can’t make bail in conditions that are not okay for anyone.
Rikers correction officer Anthony Martin Jr. is facing another charge of sexual assault in addition to two earlier charges.
[M]ore than 700 lawsuits have been filed by people who say they were fondled, raped or otherwise sexually abused while in city custody over the last five decades — some as recently as the last couple years. Nearly all the lawsuits were brought by women who were incarcerated at the Rose M. Singer Center. They’re seeking more than $14.7 billion in damages.
There have been alarms raised repeatedly about the culture of violence and medical neglect at detention facilities on Rikers Island.
Laura Taylor Swain is ordering the city, lawyers for Rikers detainees and federal prosecutors to meet over the next 45 days to come up with a potential new leadership structure for Rikers Island.
The problems predate Eric Adams tenure as mayor. Under Mayor DeBlasio, the city council voted to close Rikers by 2026. In 2020, the deadline was extended to 2027.
Adams began pumping the breaks in 2022, shortly after becoming mayor. In March 2023, New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams called on the council to renew its commitment to shutting down Rikers by 2027.
Mayoral mismanagement and disregard for the law has gotten us where we are. A press release this week from the Katal Center provides details:
From day one, the mayor has simply ignored the law as it relates to closing Rikers, and instead he’s worked to keep it open. His administration has consistently refused to follow court-mandated orders to reduce violence and improve conditions, leading a federal judge to hold them in contempt of court with a second contempt charge now pending. The Adams administration has obstructed or otherwise tried to eliminate mechanisms of accountability and transparency at Rikers, including by outright lying to the federal monitor and stonewalling the Board of Correction.
Shut down Rikers! Tell the City Council to pass Resolution 183.
Five people were executed this week in the US. It is likely that more than one of them did not commit the crimes for which they were executed. This is one of the reasons why public support for the death penalty is declining.
Another execution is scheduled for Tuesday.
In the last few years, Texas has been one of only a handful of states that have carried out death sentences - and it continues to do so targeting the poor, the mentally ill and people of color.
Sign the petition to Texas Governor Greg Abbott to stop the execution of Garcia White. This is from Death Penalty Action.
with love,
L