California state labor law will no longer use the word ‘alien’ to describe foreigners, the word being deemed derogatory, reports Slate.
Jerry Brown, governor of California signed the bill into law on Monday that prohibits its official use.
Jerry Brown. Image Credit: Phil Konstantin (Flickr)
The measure, SB 432, states that “Existing law defines ‘alien’ as any person who is not a born or fully naturalized citizen of the United States.”
A spokesman for the governor, Evan Westrup, said:
“These bills reflect a state that both recognizes and respects the diversity — and contributions — of all Californians.”
The move was proposed by Senator Tony Mendoza, who wrote in a statement:
“The time has come for California to remove the term “alien” from the state’s Labor Code […] Alien is now commonly considered a derogatory term for a foreign -born person and has very negative connotations. SB 432 will modernize the Labor Code and removes the term “alien” to describe a person who is not born in or a fully naturalized citizen of the United States.”
Previously, California’s law used the term alien to refer to noncitizens. The section of the law which Mendoza has addressed gave US citizens preference over ‘aliens’ when hiring for public-works jobs.
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Executive Director of the San Francisco Labor Council, Tim Paulson, says the law is very welcome:
“I’m very pleased […] The word ‘alien’ has incredibly racist and un-American connotations.”
He continued:
“We are a nation of immigrants, and anything that connotes a negative implication of being an immigrant is antithetical to the idea of the American dream.”
The only voter to oppose the ban was Assemblyman Matthew Harper, who said the bill is “just a way for legislators to get their names in the paper…. The negative connotations come from the fact that people are breaking the law.
Changing the word won’t change the fact that folks are here illegally.”
The use of the word ‘aliens’ and also ‘illegal’s’ to be shorthand for ‘illegal immigrants’ has long offended some people, and has declined by 20% in the past six years in the news media. Check out this blog from the New York Times written in 2011 which argues why we should cease to use these terms.
See the full story from Slate here.
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