The new Arkansas governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, issued a series of executive orders following her inauguration that sought to ban critical race theory (CRT) and terms such as “Latinx” from government institutions.
Sanders, who previously served as former President Donald Trump’s press secretary, successfully won the recent election by nearly 28 points, replacing Asa Hutchinson, who had reached his term limit.
In her inaugural address, Sanders said, “No matter where you come from, no matter your race or color or creed, no matter who you voted for, my pledge to you is this: from this day forward, you will have an advocate, a reformer, a friend, and a fighter at the highest levels of your state government.”
“All I ask in return,” the governor continued, “are your heartfelt prayers, that God will help me be the leader you deserve.”
After the inauguration, Sanders signed several executive orders targeting hot-button political issues concerning race.
“[CRT] is antithetical to the traditional American values of neutrality, equality, and fairness,” the order stated. “It emphasizes skin color as a person’s primary characteristic, thereby resurrecting segregationist values, which America has fought so hard to reject.”
Sanders instructed her state’s newly appointed secretary of the Department of Education, Jacob Oliva, to “identify any items that may, purposely or otherwise, promote teaching that would indoctrinate students with ideologies, such as CRT, that conflict with the principle of equal protection under the law or encourage students to discriminate against someone.”
Addressing fears, the order clarifies, “Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the discussion of ideas and history of the concepts described … or shall be construed to prohibit the discussion of public policy issues of the day and related ideas that individuals may find unwelcome, disagreeable or offensive.”
But some groups, like the Little Rock Education Association, have denounced the CRT ban.
The organization claimed that the order “panders to the fears of Arkansans who are unaware of the curriculum taught in Arkansas’ schools. Critical Race Theory does not ‘conflict with the principle of equal protection under the law’ as stated in Governor Sanders’ executive order.”
A previously released report from PEN America, a free-speech advocacy group, called policies similar to Sanders’ “educational gag orders” and an effort to “silence race- or gender-based critiques of US society and history.”
In another executive order, Sanders banned the use of Latinx or related words in official government documents, asserting, “Ethnically insensitive and pejorative language has no place in official government documents.”
Defending her stance on the phrase, Sanders pointed to a Pew Research poll showing that only 3% of American Latinos and Hispanics use the word Latinx.
Additionally, the order identified that “the Real Academica Española, the Madrid-based institution which governs the Spanish language, has officially rejected the use of ‘x’ as an alternative to ‘o’ and ‘a’ in Spanish.”
Others have previously theorized that different demographics within the Hispanic population feel differently about the word Latinx, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Kristian Ramos, a voter strategist whose focus is Latino outreach, claims views on the term diverge based on age.
“Young activists very much identify as Latinx, and then you have your general population that has no idea what that word means and finds it sort of mystifying and ridiculous,” he said.
Nathalie Rayes, president and CEO of the group Latino Victory Project, has said that using the term is an attempt to acknowledge the diversity within the Hispanic community.
“[I]t’s not one fell swoop across the Latino community,” Rayes explained, claiming some communities prefer to use Latinx.
Still, Sanders declares that her directives are to Arkansans’ benefit.
“In Arkansas, we will not tolerate indoctrination or CRT,” Sanders tweeted after signing the orders. “On day one, we set the tone for an administration that will empower Arkansans and defend our freedom at every turn.”
Being of Mexican descent, the word, if you can call it that “Latinx” has no place in who I am or where my roots are. Actually I have used the nickname “TexMex” since I was born in Texas and am of Mexican descent. My nationality is American and nothing else.
One, I’m surpassed that none of the racist readers of this rag have asked you if you are actually legal, like I have seen in some of the other comments.
Two, so just because you don’t like the term Latinx, you feel empowered to make the decision for others and not allow them to use to term to describe themselves.
Remember when people just minded their own business and didn’t try to impose their own beliefs on others and just let them live their lives? That was a time of true freedom.
But maybe Latinx has a place for other people of Mexican heritage. Again, let people make their own choices. That’s freedom.
Thank God for common sense in government! Critical Race Theory is merely another plot the left has been using to divide our country along racial lines.
CRT is only a theory taught in law school. It’s not taught to children and no one is being indoctrinated. Pandering to the ignorant masses at its finest.
You are such a snowflake. Sorry it hurts your little feelings to study the history of slavery, lynching and racial discrimination in the US. Let’s all just stick our heads in the sand and pretend it never happened. That’ll fix it!
No one is pretending it did not happen. Those opposed to CRT are NOT opposed to teaching history. Read this again:
“[CRT] is antithetical to the traditional American values of neutrality, equality, and fairness,” the order stated. “It emphasizes skin color as a person’s primary characteristic, thereby resurrecting segregationist values, which America has fought so hard to reject.”
I challenge you go do some deep digging into the history and foundational principals of CRT. It is NOT about true healing and reconciliation which is the only way forward.
Studying history is fine. Lying about history is not. Applying modern standards of ethics to historical events is not studying history.
And how would you know what is truth about history if you ignore it? “Lying about history” is a statement that assumes YOU know the truth. “Applying modern standards of ethics to historical events is not studying history”. Really? DENYING history is not studying history either. Standards of ethics doesn’t change. History doesn’t change. Have you ever taken a History OR an Ethics class? Done any historical research in a library or historical archives of a city including this one? Truth is not hard to find, and it only has ONE story.
And television is the largest purveyor of fiction and misrepresenting history, all in the name of artistic freedom. People watch entirely too much television. All white people have not been wealthy but most of television made it seem that way. Dynasty, Dallas, Falcon Crest, etc. TV was supposed to be for entertainment and make-believe, not an avenue to brainwash. They say that showing violence in shows does not cause violence. But in the same breath, many believe that actors smoking, causes some to start smoking. Of course they affect society. I guarantee you that back in the day of, say, Clark Gable lighting 2 cigarettes and giving 1 to the leading lady caused people to smoke wanting to emulate that. Society is full of conformists. If not, advertisers wouldn’t have a prayer.
Seems to me we need to stop talking about ancient history, that cannot be altered, and move on and live in the present. It’s so easy to be a Monday morning quarterback after the game is over. Judging past societies and civilizations based on present knowledge is inane. We’re supposed to learn from history, not dwell on it. And the US is hardly the only country that has had slavery in the world, and a lot were white. And again, ancient history. Slavery was abolished here over 150 years ago. You obviously need to take a long hard look at the history of England. Centuries of slavery and oppression, kings and paupers. And they’re still living an expensive fairytale with their figurehead kings and queens.
“All I ask in return,” the governor continued, “are your heartfelt prayers, that God will help me be the leader you deserve.”
I love when people need help to do their job. Let’s let some imaginary guy in the sky dictate how I do my job! It’s like the Birdbox challenge. Let’s all try to drive blindfolded and see what happens!
As an American citizen of Latino (with o) descent, I fully support the actions of the governor of Arkansas. It’s about time some one would start effectively pushing back on these nonsense.
So because you feel a certain way, no one else should be able to refer to themselves as Latinx if they choose to?
How about let people make decisions for themselves and stop focusing on others.
A person can refer to themselves any way they want. But like you said, let others decide for themselves and stop forcing it down their throats. A lot of Latinos don’t agree…and that is their right.
Good for her.
Kudos to Sarah Huckabee Sanders for her stance on CRT a liberal way of turning race against race. History should be learned not changed to some liberals idea of what they want it to Beto fit their demonic narrative!! This country was founded on Christian values and liberals simply want to change that! We need many more people like Sarah I. Leadership roles!