Words matter. Immigrants have been an essential part of American culture since our beginning. And throughout our history, references to immigrants have been intentionally framed to stigmatize and dehumanize them. This is particularly the case with immigrants who are Black and brown, from Asia and the Global South. Inflammatory rhetoric has recently included terms like […]
Beth Langen
Beth Langen is a Springfield Immigrant Advocacy Network co-chair.
Posted inArts & Culture
Vilifying immigrants, the oldest trick in the book, is a racist one
At this writing, we don’t know what the outcome of this election will be. It has been painful to endure as it centered on the vilification of immigrants and refugees. It is not new. Germans arriving in the 1700s were thought to be barbaric. Called “Huns,” they were considered suspicious if they practiced the traditions […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Antiracism work and community building ground us in love
In August, we wrote a column here about how the killing of Sonya Massey is one of countless instances of violence that Black communities have experienced for centuries. We referenced the brutal history of policing which has included enforcing slave codes, lynchings, and assaulting peaceful civil rights protesters with water cannons and dogs. The murder […]
