On Wednesday, Sept. 20, a screening for the documentary “Change the Subject” took place in the Library auditorium as part of celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.
Fresno State librarian Julie Moore hosted the screening, which was about a group of Hispanic students and librarians from Dartmouth College challenging the Library of Congress about the usage of the term “illegal alien.”
The characters of the film objected to the term in the subject headings of their cataloging systems. The film highlighted the problematic implications of the term.
The term can be offensive and dehumanizing while perpetuating negative stereotypes about undocumented immigrants, making it easier to justify harmful acts against them.
The documentary followed students Oscar Ruben Cornejo Casares and Melissa Padilla, along with librarian Jill Baron, on a trip to Washington, D.C., to speak to various political figures like Representatives Joaquin Castro and Debbie Wasserman Schultz who were both in advocacy of their cause.
“Language has evolved. That’s why we’ve gone away with terms like ‘negro,’ and ‘oriental,’ and ‘lunatic’ and ‘retarded,’Castro said in the film. “Because we understand that even words that start off as neutral descriptors can overtime become used as verbal weapons and knives.”
Initially CoFired, a student activist group led by Casares and Padilla, focused on usage of “illegal alien” at a college level in which they were in compliance. However, Darthmouth was forced to change its policy back because it was affiliated under the Library of Congress’ database, which is a federal institution.
Once word got around of this issue, it blew up and was met with pushback from Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz and right-wing media commentators like Tomi Lahren.
“This is where we see political correctness gone amok,” Representative Diane Black said in the film. “We see a group of very liberal students from Dartmouth university who sent the petition to the Library of Congress and they reacted to that silliness because the word alien are defined in Webster’s dictionary and are used actually throughout our code.”
The fight to change the term “illegal alien” in the Library of Congress’ databases continues as activists, such as Padilla and Casares, want to now change it to “noncitizens” or “undocumented immigrants.”
There have been workarounds to remove the word from a local database that the colleges are more in control of, but on a national level, such as the Library of Congress, the term “illegal aliens” can still be used, Moore said.
Moore said she saw the documentary for the first time at the annual Library Association Conference and she found that it related to the exhibit “Words Matter” which is on the 4th floor of the library and open to anyone to visit anytime.
“It has to do with our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and especially the work that I do in the inclusive description task force,” Moore said.
