D.A. King on Fox News Latino – Opinion: ‘Alien’ too hurtful? Maybe entire legal code should be re-written in Emojis
This latest mindless attempt to eliminate the inconvenient words from the English language only serve to remind the rest of us that California is the illegal immigration capital of the world and is going bust because of its ridiculous and deadly liberal laws and policies.
– D.A. King
In another of a seemingly endless shake-your-head series of jump-the-shark politically correct attempts at distraction from the stateâs massive wall of debt crisis, Governor âMoonbeamâ Jerry Brown and the Democrat legislature have decided to strike the English word âalienâ from California labor laws.
Not the legal and accurate term for non-citizens here in violation of American immigration laws â which is âillegal alienâ â just ⌠âalien.â
Democrat state Senator Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia), author of the bill, says âalienâ is now commonly considered a derogatory term for a foreign-born person and has very negative connotations. Note to Mendoza from mainstream America: No, it isnât.
The executive director of the San Francisco Labor Council, Tim Paulson, reportedly told the San Francisco Chronicle that âthe word âalienâ has incredibly racist and un-American connotations.â Got that?
Merriam-Webster contains several definitions for the English word âalien.â Among them: âa person who was born in a different country and is not a citizen of the country in which he or she now lives; âa foreign-born resident who has not been naturalized and is still a subject or citizen of a foreign country; and âa creature that comes from somewhere other than the planet Earth.â
It seems that even with English as the official language of California, there are exceptions for full usage.
We anxiously await the headline announcing the official scrubbing of the word âalienâ in any discussions or studies at Caltechâs center of astronomical research, Mt. Palomar Observatory, as âracist.â
A quick look at several online translator sites and queries to my native Spanish-speaking friends informs me that âalienâ en Espanol is âextranjero.â So, a question for the language police in Sacramento: Is alien âracist, derogatory and un-Americanâ in any language ⌠or only English?
Maybe the entire California legal code can be soon re-written in Emojis?
Meanwhile, back here on planet Earth, curious readers should know that âalienâ is still really a word. As a matter of fact, it is usefully combined with the English word âillegalâ quite often.
One wonders at the sleepless nights and fits of rage from the California government officials when they hear that âillegal alienâ is used in federal law, various state laws, by the IRS, in multiple presidential Executive Orders, by federal immigration law enforcement and by the United States Supreme Court â including by that self-described âwise Latinaâ Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
âThe concern is that the use of the word âalienâ would dehumanize the people affectedâ and lead to âlack of protections under the law,â claims Kevin R. Johnson, dean of Public Interest Law and professor of Chicana/Chicano Studies at UC Davis.
The quotes from Californiaâs sensitive elite bring up yet another question. Is it âdehumanizingâ or âderogatoryâ to use the word âalienâ when noting the murder of Kate Steinle by an illegal alien who was a convicted criminal and who had been deported multiple times? We wouldnât want to hurt anybodyâs feelings.
Is it âun-Americanâ or hurtful when Americans Billy and Kathy Inman of Woodstock, Georgia tell the story of an illegal alien killing their only child, Dustin â age sixteen, fifteen years ago in his own country because he was welcomed into the USA by mindless politicians and rewarded with an officially-issued drivers license, a job, and various public benefits?
Is it âdehumanizingâ when Kathy Inman explains from her wheelchair that she has been there ever since the illegal alien looking for a better life put here there for the rest of her life when he killed her son?
This latest mindless attempt to eliminate the inconvenient words from the English language only serve to remind the rest of us that California is the illegal immigration capital of the world and is going bust because of its ridiculous and deadly liberal laws and policies.
One more definition from Merriam-Webster: âFool: a person who lacks good sense or judgment: a stupid or silly person.â
D.A. King is president of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society and is an independent voter. He describes himself a âpro-enforcementâ on immigration and borders. Twitter:@DAKDIS