From the Colorlines website – Click here to sign the petition.

People in Charlotte, North Carolina are tired of the bullying and hate set off by increased use of the i-word, and concerned about the rise in civil rights abuse claims in the region. We join United 4 the Dream, the youth group of the Latin American Coalition in Charlotte, in support of their current action to encourage the Charlotte Observer to end the use of dehumanizing and inaccurate anti-immigrant language.

The dehumanizing and racially charged i-word is used to negatively describe people of color, most often Latinos regardless of citizenship status. North Carolina now ranks 11th in the nation in Latino residents, with the largest Latino population residing in Charlotte.

Immigration judges, ICE attorneys, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and the Supreme Court, do not use the i-word because it is meaningless in the context of immigration proceedings and undermines due process.

The i-word is politically loaded and promoted by republican strategist Frank Luntz and anti-immigrant advocacy organizations like Numbers USA and the hate group Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) to create useful division among voters.