Striking a rare blow for sanity, Arkansas Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders banned the state from using the controversial term “Latinx” on government documents.
Radical leftist groups and some politicians are pushing the term as a way to neuter the gender-specific Spanish language of the words Latina and Latino. Sanders is having none of that.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders bans 'Latinx' from Arkansas government documents https://t.co/NhYURZrbZH #FoxNews
— Bo Snerdley (@BoSnerdley) January 11, 2023
Sworn in as the state’s first female governor on Tuesday, Sanders cited a Pew Research poll that revealed only 3% of U.S. Latinos and Hispanics refer to themselves as “Latinx.” She called its usage “ethnically insensitive” and said it has no place in the Arkansas government.
Her executive order stated that “the government has a responsibility to respect its citizens and use ethnically appropriate language, particularly when referring to ethnic minorities.
In justifying her order, Sanders noted that the Madrid-based institution that operates as a linguistic guide for the Spanish language, Real Academia Espanola, officially rejected replacing the “o” and “a” with “x” to specify gender in proper usage.
The action specifically called for state agencies to review documents for instances of “Latinx” or its variations and swap them out for “Hispanic,” “Latino,” or “Latina.”
The order stated that gender cannot be extracted from Spanish and other romance languages any more than “one can remove vowels and verbs from English.”
Sanders is also set to sign an executive order banning the usage of Chinese-owned TikTok from state electronic devices and government networks. Arkansas will join the federal government and over 20 other states that have now enacted the prohibition.
She made her intention clear to be a governor who focuses on education. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Sanders proclaimed it to be her “biggest priority” and said that having a “fifth-grader, a third-grader, and a first-grader” in her household makes it her core issue.
She successfully followed her father’s footsteps to serve as governor. Mike Huckabee previously held the position from mid-1996 until 2007. She was also former President Donald Trump’s press secretary during a part of his tenure in the White House and continues to enjoy his support.
Trump endorsed her for Arkansas governor and celebrated her victory this week. The former president on Tuesday posted on his Truth Social platform his congratulations for her win and predicted that Sanders “will be a truly incredible governor.”
