Sarah Huckabee Sanders Bans 'Pejorative' Word from Government Use on First Day as Governor
Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has banned the word “Latinx” from official state documents.
The ban, announced in an executive order, was among seven such orders issued by Sanders, who was elected in November and inaugurated on Tuesday.
The ban on the word “Latinx” was based on the fact that it is rarely used and rejected by what Sanders cited as the authority on the Spanish language, the Real Academia Española, or Royal Spanish Academy, based in Madrid, Spain.
“One can no more easily remove gender from Spanish and other romance languages than one can remove vowels and verbs from English,” the executive order stated, adding that one aim of the Sanders administration is “to prohibit the use of culturally insensitive words for official state government business.”
THANK YOU to Gov. Sarah Sanders for banning the hurtful word “Latinx” in Arkansas government affairs.
“Ethnically insensitive and pejorative language has no place in official government documents or government employee titles.”
SOMOS LATINOS! 🇺🇸💯
— ANGELINA TÁMEZ (@AngelinaTamezTX) January 11, 2023
The word is a “fairly new term created by and proffered by high-brow academics and progressives to somehow be more inclusive of the non-binary or gender-neutral community,” Latino columnist John Torres wrote in Florida Today. He used words such as “offensive,” “nonsensical,” and “pretentious” to further describe the term.
Sanders is not alone in disparaging the term. Democratic U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona has banned it for his staff as well.
“To be clear my office is not allowed to use ‘Latinx’ in official communications. When Latino politicos use the term it is largely to appease white rich progressives who think that is the term we use. It is a vicious circle of confirmation bias,” he wrote in a 2021 Twitter post.
To be clear my office is not allowed to use “Latinx” in official communications.
When Latino politicos use the term it is largely to appease white rich progressives who think that is the term we use. It is a vicious circle of confirmation bias. https://t.co/kMty6q7UQn— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) December 6, 2021
Sanders also banned the video application TikTok from use on state devices.
“It is the position of this administration to undertake strong and prudent measures to protect the information and communications systems used by state entities, public primary and secondary schools, cities and counties, and public safety organizations from harm to prevent both unauthorized access and exploitation of the critical data stored within and traveling through those systems,” Sanders’ executive order on the ban said.
Sanders also issued an order to ban the teaching of critical race theory in Arkansas schools.
Noting that her administration will empower parents, Sanders wrote in her executive order that “Critical Race Theory (CRT) is antithetical to the traditional American values of neutrality, equality, and fairness. It emphasizes skin color as a person’s primary characteristic, thereby resurrecting segregationist values, which America has fought so hard to reject.”
“CRT, discrimination, and indoctrination have no place in Arkansas classrooms,” the order stated.
I am incredibly honored to be the 47th Governor, and the first woman governor, of the great state of Arkansas.
We will show the world that there is still a place in America where freedom reigns and liberty will never die, and that place is Arkansas.
Now, let’s get to work. pic.twitter.com/vkSf6yw7sb
— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) January 10, 2023
“As long as I am governor, our schools will focus on the skills our children need to get ahead in the modern world, not brainwashing our children with a left-wing political agenda,” she said in her inaugural address, according to CNN.
Sanders, who is the first woman to serve as the governor of Arkansas, was a White House press secretary during the administration of former President Donald Trump. She is also the daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
“As far as we know, we’ll be the first-ever father-daughter pair anywhere in the country, and so, you know, that is a pretty historic and amazing thing,” Sanders said, according to Fox News.
She said her father “set the bar high, and I have very big shoes to fill.”
CORRECTION, Jan. 12, 2023: An earlier version of this story misspelled Rep. Ruben Gallego’s first name.
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