Who first started calling New Orleanders "refugees"?

[tuvor]

That's just plain odd--never called them that before, have we? I wonder if there's a deliberate purpose behind its use.

I mean, even though it may be a tenuously correct use of the word, what's suddenly wrong with good ol' standbys like "hurricane victims" and "flood victims"?

[longship]

1. They have no intentions of letting them go back.

Mark my words! Now that this tragedy has happened, the neocons have plans for NOLA that do not include the former residents.

[craigolemiss]

2. I dont think it matters

Call them what you will at this point Evacuees, Refugees, Victims of a Disaster or whatnot---

One of the problems is that we were all raised in different parts of the country so call it Pop, Coke, Soda, or whatever --when it becomes wordwise so important that the and only the "correct" word is used then we as democrats have a bit of a problem. this is one of those "PC" things that we always get beat on the head with by republicans, and if we eat each other up and argue about this then we merely give them ammunition...

refugee One who flees in search of refuge, as in times of war, political oppression, or religious persecution.


one who flees in search of refuge---that sounds about right

[tuvor]

4. I've never heard it used in this context before.

That's what prompted the post.

Thanks for the food for thought.

And welcome to DU! :hi:

[craigolemiss]

5. is it worth checking? does it matter?

--I believe I have heard Hurricaine "victims" referred to as refugees from the storm long before this storm.

[tuvor]

7. Juuuuuust asking.

And as for me, I've never heard hurricane "victims" referred to as "refugees from the storm" long before this storm.

So maybe it matters. Maybe it doesn't.

Juuuuuuuust asking.

[craigolemiss]

9. Aug27--Katrina in florida--Even RICH White people can be called refugees

--even White people can be called refugees

East Coast residents relax in Collier after fleeing mess left by Katrina

Too bad pi–a coladas aren't tax-deductible.

Gladys Fernandez was sipping one Saturday afternoon at the Vanderbilt Inn pool in north Collier County when her mother-in-law called to remind her to save receipts.

The federal government may help with expenses for her Collier County weekend after Hurricane Katrina beat up her surburban Miami neighborhood.

"I asked her, 'What about the pi–a coladas?' She said, 'Well, no, you better hide those,' " chuckled Fernandez, 37, who escaped to join friends after about 35 hours without power.

----SNIP----

Throughout the day, the east coast refugees at the Vanderbilt Inn called to check if the power was back or phones restored on the east coast.

Nope, but no worries. They went back to sunbathing and their drinks.

"We're just trying to cool our heels until things are back to normal," Lance Harke said.

----SNIP----

http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/news/article/0,2071,NPDN_14940_4036176,00.html

Not an evil plot to call "evacuees" some bad nefarious name.

I keep editing this but I am LMAO reading this article---if you need to read about Katrina and Florida this is great--I can only hope some of these people see a way to donate the price of a single drink to the recovery effort.

[Sugarbleus]

10. BINGO... I've been wondering why people are upset about

this word. No good explaination yet.

I'll call them whatever they want but refugee is exactly what your definition says it is: a person looking for refuge, safty, help.

Evacuees is fine if that will calm the nerves of those with tender sensitivities... Both are hard to type, out so whatever... VICTIMS is another word, SURVIVORS whatever...

I HATE most PC crap too. It's so ridiculous and keeps people scrambling around for "what's the newest "label" to use for this group or that.. get's tedious.

FOCUS ON HELPING THE HURTING PEOPLE...

BTW, LoL, I call it soda....... :hi:

[craigolemiss]

11. its pop

---you some kinda rabble rouser---
:9

[Sugarbleus]

15. LOL LOL..........

:hug:

[Fescue4u]

3. Proably when people saw that they needed refuge

Is my guess.

[auracat]

6. they are americancitizens. tax paying, working citizens, and to call them

refugees makes them seem as if they are poor foreigners looking for a hand out.
true, some small percent may have recieved public assistance, but most worked.

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

14. exactly

I've evacuated twice, once in the states and once overseas, and I was never called a "refugee." Why now? Because most of those who have had to evacuate are the sons and daughters of slaves brought in from Africa?

It carries with it pejorative connotations. The Congressional Black Caucus prefers "Americans." That's what I was called in my two incidents of evacuation.

[Guaranteed]

8. Yeah, it's different when you hear Americans being called

"refugees."

Most definitely different.

Pretty appropriate, though.

[Autumn Colors]

12. Insurgents???

Well, an article on Army Times is now saying they're conducting "Combat Operations" in New Orleans and that they are trying to find the "insurgency".

They are going to take over that city, take the land for eminent domain, and no one's going to be let back in ... oh, unless they're rich, white, and republican.

[craigolemiss]

13. If they start getting called Insurgents, Then we go a problem

[annabanana]

20. link?

[Autumn Colors]

21. Here's a link to the Army Times story

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1077495.php

and some quotes:

NEW ORLEANS — Combat operations are underway on the streets “to take this city back” in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

“This place is going to look like Little Somalia,” Brig. Gen. Gary Jones, commander of the Louisiana National Guard’s Joint Task Force told Army Times Friday as hundreds of armed troops under his charge prepared to launch a massive citywide security mission from a staging area outside the Louisiana Superdome. “We’re going to go out and take this city back. This will be a combat operation to get this city under control.”

-- snip ---

While some fight the insurgency in the city, other carry on with rescue and evacuation operations. Helicopters are still pulling hundreds of stranded people from rooftops of flooded homes.

[Shipwack]

16. When I was an "evacuee" last year....

From the hurricanes in Florida, I knew I probably had a place to go back to.

Most of these people no longer have any homes, at least for the next few months. Even if the building is standing, they won't be allowed back in the city for a couple of months.

However, I'll use whatever word that makes people happy, for the moment. I have other things I need to spend my energy on than arguing semantics.

I keep getting the impression that people don't like the word "refugee" because of some sort of pride thing. There is a perception that "Refugees" are only in poor or backward countries where the government is too incompetent or corrupt to take care of its people...

Welcome to the Third World, folks.

[Vogon_Glory]

17. I've Recently Started Calling Them DP's

I've recently started referring to those folks as DP's--displaced persons.It's an old phrase from the post-World War II era. I think that the phrase is highly accurate.

[auracat]

22. ah yes, i wonder what flannery o'connor

would think of this. i have never forgotten her story "displaced persons"

[Inland]

24. Me too. Refugees works for me also. nt

[KeepItReal]

18. Houston Chronicle called some "Renegade Refugees"

I wrote the "reporters" and the editor a letter on that.

[HereSince1628]

19. I'll respect this little semiotic flashpoint but

I think the most significant problem with "refugee" is that it is a word outside those commonly encountered or used to describe Americans.

Consequently people encumbered it with associations that they were familiar with, such as Ethiopian (famine) refugees, and Rawandan (political) refugees. It's these ad hoc cultural associations that load the word and make it unacceptable.

[Ms. Toad]

23. It was originally used here as an alternative to

calling them homeless. I don't know the origin of using the term outside of DU.

Homelessness, especially in the minds of the haves and have-mores, is often attributed to some character flaw of the individual (or family) who is homeless. Refugees are routinely generally viewed as having reached that status through no fault of their own.

[baldguy]

25. They are refugees.

People won't be able to return to NO for YEARS - there's nothing left. No homes, no JOBS, nothing. My fear is that they'll become new Okies - especially if there's another disaster putting millions at the tender mercies of Bush.