Thursday, September 08, 2005
Words: "Displaced Americans" "Displaced Persons"
Words and history
Sometime in the last 24 hours, under pressure from those who objected to the term "refugees" used to describe people driven from their homes by Hurricane Katrina and the flooding aftermath, U.S. officialdom has come with the term "displaced Americans." (Although term has been in blogosphere for at least a week and aired in a Chicago Tribune blog, by Eric Zorn on September 5, "Refugees vs Evacuees.")
(Update:Zorn continues the debate at EZ goes CD on "refugee")
Zorn does say there is an international NGO/UN/everyone else term; "The precise term of art here is evidently "internally displaced persons," or IDPs, but news stories and conversations don't use precise terms of art."
CNN reported this morning that the word to use "displaced Americans" came officially from the Pentagon. CNN and AP are now using the term; as in this AP report in The Guardian
As I listened to CNN in the past few minutes and reporters kept talking about "displaced Americans," I wondered if anyone had bothered to check the history books.
After the Second World War, the official term was "displaced persons" (the wider usage since the people "displaced" were everywhere on the planet).
"Displaced person" was soon shortened to "DP" and "DP" very quickly became a derogatory term. I remember as a small child growing in up in Kitimat, a town in nothern British Columbia with a significant population from Europe who had survived the Second World War, that the term "dirty DP" was used far too often. One of my memories from the time I was about six is seeing a sign scrawled large in mud (long before there were spray cans) "DP Go Home" across the wall of a neighbour's house. I also have a vague memory of seeing one of those black and white "training films" in school where kids were taught to be nice to refugee children and not to use the nasty term "DP." I also have memories of the derogatory term "DP" showing up in some Hollywood movies of the era but can't be sure.
So are the people driven from their homes by Katrina going to be called "DAs" once some in the community where they are now staying decide they are no longer welcome?
Just something to think about.
Technorati tags
Katrina, journalism, words, displaced Americans, news, CNN,
AP,George Bush,
refugee,media, DP
10:38 AM posted by Robin Rowland
Permanent Link
Links to this post
Words and history
Sometime in the last 24 hours, under pressure from those who objected to the term "refugees" used to describe people driven from their homes by Hurricane Katrina and the flooding aftermath, U.S. officialdom has come with the term "displaced Americans." (Although term has been in blogosphere for at least a week and aired in a Chicago Tribune blog, by Eric Zorn on September 5, "Refugees vs Evacuees.")
(Update:Zorn continues the debate at EZ goes CD on "refugee")
Zorn does say there is an international NGO/UN/everyone else term; "The precise term of art here is evidently "internally displaced persons," or IDPs, but news stories and conversations don't use precise terms of art."
CNN reported this morning that the word to use "displaced Americans" came officially from the Pentagon. CNN and AP are now using the term; as in this AP report in The Guardian
Meanwhile, Bush objected to references to displaced Americans as "refugees."
"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 president raised the subject during a meeting with service organizations that are helping with the relief effort.
As I listened to CNN in the past few minutes and reporters kept talking about "displaced Americans," I wondered if anyone had bothered to check the history books.
After the Second World War, the official term was "displaced persons" (the wider usage since the people "displaced" were everywhere on the planet).
"Displaced person" was soon shortened to "DP" and "DP" very quickly became a derogatory term. I remember as a small child growing in up in Kitimat, a town in nothern British Columbia with a significant population from Europe who had survived the Second World War, that the term "dirty DP" was used far too often. One of my memories from the time I was about six is seeing a sign scrawled large in mud (long before there were spray cans) "DP Go Home" across the wall of a neighbour's house. I also have a vague memory of seeing one of those black and white "training films" in school where kids were taught to be nice to refugee children and not to use the nasty term "DP." I also have memories of the derogatory term "DP" showing up in some Hollywood movies of the era but can't be sure.
So are the people driven from their homes by Katrina going to be called "DAs" once some in the community where they are now staying decide they are no longer welcome?
Just something to think about.
Technorati tags
Katrina, journalism, words, displaced Americans, news, CNN,
AP,George Bush,
refugee,media, DP
10:38 AM posted by Robin Rowland
Permanent Link
