All opinions expressed in this article are solely the opinions of the contributors.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders campaigned on improving education and phasing out the state’s income tax. Yet one of her first acts since becoming governor was to sign an executive order banning state agencies from using the word Latinx. Some critics say Sanders is simply trying to score points by wading into identity politics, and note that the gender-neutral term isn’t even used much in official Arkansas materials. Straight Arrow News contributor Ruben Navarrette says Sanders’ Latinx ban is the latest proof that when it comes to understanding Latinos, the GOP has no clue.
In signing the executive order banning Latinx, Sanders called the word “culturally insensitive.” That is an interesting choice of words coming from a Republican, given that the GOP wrote the book on cultural insensitivity to Latinos, often using the immigration issue like a club. They call Arkansas the “Natural State” but there’s nothing natural or logical about Sanders’ attack on the term Latinx. The ban gives agencies 60 days to revise written materials to comply. It shouldn’t take even 60 minutes, since the word does not appear to be widely used in Arkansas government. In fact, it’s likely that the entire kerfuffle is simply about tweaking the woke liberals, which – ask around – just so happens to be one of my favorite pastimes.
But that doesn’t mean I feel like giving conservatives a pass, either. If right-wingers like Sanders have suddenly found religion, and want to continue their efforts to win over Latino voters in time for the 2024 presidential election, I can think of about 50 other issues that Latinos consider more pressing than whether or not the state of Arkansas – which is after all, only about 8% Latino – actually sanctions the term Latinx. Instead of trying to fix the way that Latinos self identify how about you just fix the way that Latinos are getting shortchanged by the public schools, the police, the criminal justice system, the health care system, Wall Street, Main Street, Sesame Street… you get the point.
I don’t like Latinx and polls show that only about 3% of Latinos actually use the damn word. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the nation’s oldest Latino civil rights group, has also dumped the term. The truth is, most Latinos hate the word Latinx almost as much as they hate another term that was slapped on us by white folks back in the late 1970s. And that term is Hispanic.
Look, nearly 50 years later, that word is still around. We’re gonna need a wooden cross and some holy water to get rid of that sucker. So good luck, Gov. Sanders. Good luck with that Latinx ban of yours.
