Migrants Are Migrants
Possibly the most racist word in the English language is ‘expat.’ Only white people can be expats. If anyone else moves to live outside the country of their birth they are called immigrants or something more derogatory. There is no doubt which word carries the higher status. The reason for moving, the length of the stay or the qualifications of the migrating person are irrelevant. The only prerequisite for earning the title of ‘expat’ is skin colour, which is why that word should be omitted from any civilised conversation.
Yet this particular term is only the tip of the racist iceberg. Historically and presently, there are many ways to describe people who travel to live somewhere different, including: explorers, settlers, colonialists, expansionists, emigrants, migrants, refugees ,and asylum-seekers.
These words are arranged on a spectrum of people with the least to the most melanin in their skin. They usually contain the assumption that white people moving to non-white countries have brave, adventurous or humanitarian motivations, while people travelling in the opposite direction have job-stealing, greedy, or possibly criminal motivations.
In Australia, the early English migrants who massacred indigenous inhabitants, claimed their lands and destroyed their ecosystems are widely considered ‘intrepid pioneers,’ whilst more recently people who attempt to…
