This week, ColorLines and its publisher, Applied Research Center, began a campaign to drop the I-word: illegal. I have a whole page on this blog dedicated to why “illegal” is a term that needs to go, and I’ll be adding this video to that page as well.
My one qualm with this video is that it focuses on right-wing usage of the word. The left is just as guilty of using the word. Obama uses it almost every time he talks about immigration. Most politicians and media personalities do the same.
The usage of this word has contributed an incredibly hostile environment for immigrants and Latin@-looking brown people (including documented immigrants and U.S. citizens). That’s not going to change unless we hold everyone–ourselves included–accountable for the language we use when discussing immigration.
You can sign the pledge to stop using the I-word here.
![The Feminist Texican [Reads]](http://feministtexicanreads.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/self-portraitwiththornnecklaceandhummingbird.jpg?w=150&h=193 "The Feminist Texican [Reads]")
