ICE Dehumanization of Immigrants: Woody Guthrie’s Legacy
- folk legend Woody Guthrie was so angered by the dehumanizing language used to describe Mexican immigrants in 1948 that he wrote a song about it.
- Artists from Pete Seeger to Bruce Springsteen to Dolly parton have covered Guthrie's song, which has been hailed as a timeless ode to the humanity of society's most...
- In a social media post on Wednesday, ICE honored the deportation officer killed in the January 28, 1948, crash while describing the unnamed passengers as "illegal Mexican aliens."
folk legend Woody Guthrie was so angered by the dehumanizing language used to describe Mexican immigrants in 1948 that he wrote a song about it. Telling the story of dozens of Mexican workers killed during a deportation flight crash, Guthrie called the tune “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos).”
Artists from Pete Seeger to Bruce Springsteen to Dolly parton have covered Guthrie’s song, which has been hailed as a timeless ode to the humanity of society’s most marginalized.
U.S.Immigration and Customs Enforcement wasn’t listening.
In a social media post on Wednesday, ICE honored the deportation officer killed in the January 28, 1948, crash while describing the unnamed passengers as “illegal Mexican aliens.”
Whether intentionally or not, the post drew a backlash from commenters who pointed out the language used to describe plane crash victims on the 78th anniversary of their death. It’s the latest social media imbroglio for ICE, or its parent agency, the Department of homeland Security, which seems to court controversy with posts that echo the language of white nationalists.
The post about the crash anniversary may have been subtler. Still, it is a virtual repeat of the attitude toward immigrant laborers that so upset Guthrie decades ago, according to Tim Z. Hernandez,the author of two books about the famous plane crash.
“True to form of this administration, they are pulling from old rhetoric as a way to justify what they’re doing today.”
“True to form of this administration, they are pulling from old rhetoric as a way to justify what they’re doing today,” he said.
Words like “alien” and “illegal,” Hernandez said, are “only meant to further strip the humanity of the people they’re targeting, because then it’s easier to justify when you’re not talking about human beings.”
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The flight that ended in a fiery crash took the life of Frank Chaffin, the deportation officer, along with
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