Refugee or Evacuee

Yeah, all the bloggers will go on and on about this disticntion. I prefer not to use refugee, not because I want to whitewash the situation, but rather use the more temporary-sounding evacuee. Refuges need Doctors Without Borders. Evacuees need the Red Cross and disaster assitance.
This guy on NPR disagrees with me, and the stated policy of NPR not to use "refugee" in describing those displaced by Katrina.
See, Corbin? Having a blog means you MUST have a stated opinion on everything :-)
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Anonymous said…
Evacuees are the people who evacuated before the storm hit.

The people you are talking about are most certainly refugees. Calling them evacuees diminishes their plight, which is likely what the administration would like you call them.

Call them what they are. They're refugees.
Sep 11, 2005, 12:00:00 AM
Jen Ambrose said…
I guess I am just uncomrfortable calling them refugees because it is so--third world, desperate, cholera, doctors without borders---you know, stuff that happens everywhere but here and Canada. Perhaps the real sign that I should haev taken that yes, kids, even in America we look like the Sudan was that CNN sent in Christianne to report. When I heard her voice one afternoon when I was listening and not watching, I was realy, "oh crap--this is worse than any of us knows...."
Sep 11, 2005, 9:59:00 AM
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