Hispanic lawmakers hoped a meeting with top executives from MSNBC and NBC News Wednesday would smooth over hard feelings from Donald Trump’s appearance on “Saturday Night Live.” Instead, it had the opposite effect.
NBC News President Deborah Turness committed a major blunder — as far as the Hispanic lawmakers were concerned — when she described undocumented immigrants as “illegals,” a term that many in the Latino community find highly offensive.
Turness was describing NBC’s integration with their Spanish-language network Telemundo, which included coverage of Pope Francis’ visit to the U.S. and his interaction with a young girl who was afraid her parents would be deported because they’re “illegals.”
“I’m going to stop you right there. We use the term undocumented immigrants,” Rep. Juan Vargas (D-Calif.) interrupted.
Turness apologized.
That exchange kicked off a meeting that was already expected to be tense. Lawmakers were hoping for an explanation of why Trump hosted Saturday Night Live, despite formal protests from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. MSNBC and NBC News executives — who are part of a separate entity from NBC’s entertainment division, which oversees SNL — came expecting to talk about the progress they’ve made in making their newsrooms more diverse.
I guess good things didn’t come out of that meeting! Turness should have known better. If her life is so far removed from “real Hispanics” then her people should have prepped her and told her nothing makes a person sound more redneck than using the term “illegals” when speaking of undocumented immigrants.
When you sit down with people to iron out differences, then you shouldn’t employee terms that the other group finds highly offensive. It’s just common sense.
Moonhowlings gets it. We have had that rule since day one. Leave that term for other blogs.
Liberal PC cannibalism. MU, Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown, Ithaca, Amherst, Princeton, NBC……….
And Smith. Can’t forget dear old Smith.
I actually don’t think using terms that don’t offend is liberalism. Do people go around telling Pollack or Jew jokes now? NO. It’s impolite.
Yesterday I was in the PT lobby, waiting for my session. Some old bat was in there responding to the news, rolling her eyes in distain over her obvious dislike of the president. Now, that’s fine. She can like who she wants to like. But must she share her feelings with the general population is such a way? It was almost like snobbery…like anyone who didn’t agree with her much not be her class. I almost said something….almost…
Then you have Ben Carson comparing Syrian refugees to rabid dogs….I mean geez…and we wonder why many Muslims don’t like the United States? Rhetoric does breed hostility.
My mother in law was a Smith graduate. Oddly enough, she was the daughter of a German immigrant who died when she was 4 and her mother was an Irish immigrant. She grew up without much in the way of wealth. Her mother was a seamstress and a widow. 4 children to feed. My M-I-L studied hard, got a couple small scholarships and went all the way through Smith. She kept good friends there until the day she died. She didn’t worry that she wasn’t a little rich girl.
That last paragraph has nothing to do with much of anything. I just have a lot of respect for her accomplishments. She went a long way without money backing her up.
And to think that the late, beloved Cesar Estrada Chavez, now recognized by states and schools and the nation itself in statues and national monuments and national historical places, used to refer to “undocumented immigrants” from Mexico as “wetbacks” who forced legal Latino immigrants and citizens to accept lower salary levels and even to be out of jobs altogether. Will the mavens of modern Latino PC now demand that Cesar be made a non-person and his monuments and honors be effaced?
Ridiculous. Add Juan Vargas to my list above. He couldn’t hold a candle to Cesar.
What’s next in the PC speech tyranny? We will have to call prison inmates of color “temporary guests of the state” instead of felons?
There is PC speech here in that regard and always has been. It will not change.
Actually, in Virginia, prisoners are addressed as Offender Whoever.
Can’t imagine Ben Carson meaning that. I would say he meant the ISIS terrorists who might use the refugee opportunity to their advantage.
The proper term is “illegal alien”. This the term used in the US Immigration code, and other regulations.
There is also a movement underway to change the language. I also don’t even care if that term is used here, although it wouldn’t be my first preference.
I believe Orwell called this “NewSpeak”.
We have also changed government language that we use about blacks, Indians and handicapped people. Language should evolve with the times.
On a more specific note, “illegals” is just ignorant. Adjectives aren’t nouns. Thus sayeth the teach.
@Moon-howler
[Raises Hand]
Isn’t “undocumented” and adjective as well? If some one says “we need to help the undocumented” is that ignorant, or is it only ignorant when it also crosses the “PCPD”, otherwise known as the Political Correctness Police Department?
My favorite attempt so far was when certain legislators, including the first Female Speaker of the House, started throwing around the term “undocumented citizens”.
Yes–an adjective. But would you say “undocumentedS?” Undocumented Citizens was BAD. I laughed.
I probably wouldn’t call a person an “undocumented.”
PC has a little to do with it. I first became aware of feelings on this from students who didn’t like being called aliens. They probably would have rather been called “illegals” than “aliens.” It’s the whole space thing.
@Moon-howler
We could call them immigration violators, and shorten it to “violators”. Too harsh? How about “self immigraters” and shorten it to “selfies”…which is a non-word in common usage.
Violators–too harsh. Be like Virginia–immigration offenders? nah…too harsh. How about immigration slackers?
immiselfies?
Those who loot during riots: undocumented shoppers?
I stole that from somebody. Can’t remember who.
I have just shortened it to “thieves.”
The loons have now hit the U. of North Carolina. Their list of demands is about as far from sanity as one could get. It looks like it was written in the day room of the “Cuckoo’s Nest.”
Alas, all those education dollars wasted……..
Give us the details, Wolve. What happened in NC?
We’ll know if this will spread further, if they stay on campus during the holiday break.
I expect other things will call…..