Governor Sanders announces Executive Order to respect the Latino Community by elimintaing culturally insensitive words from offricial use in government

WHEREAS: Ethnically insensitive and pejorative language has no place in official government documents or government employee titles;

WHEREAS: The government has a responsibility to respect its citizens and use ethnically appropriate language, particularly when referring to ethnic minorities;

WHEREAS: According to Pew Research, only three percent of American Latinos and Hispanics use the word “Latinx” to describe themselves;

WHEREAS: The Real Academia 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;

WHEREAS: One can no more easily remove gender from Spanish and other romance languages than one can remove vowels and verbs from English; and

WHEREAS: It is the policy of the Governor’s administration to prohibit the use of culturally insensitive words for official state government business.  

NOW, THEREFORE, I, SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, acting under the authority vested in me as the Governor of the State of Arkansas, do hereby order the following:

That all state offices, departments, and agencies, unless granted an exemption by the Governor, shall review official documents of their respective entities regarding the use of the term "Latinx," "latinx," "Latinxs," or "latinxs" in official state documents. 

That all state offices, departments, and agencies shall submit a written report to the Governor detailing the findings of their review regarding the current use of the terms "Latinx," "latinx," "Latinxs," or "latinxs." 

That within sixty (60) days of this Order, all state offices, departments, and agencies shall revise all existing written materials by replacing the terms "Latinx," "latinx," "Latinxs," or "latinxs" with "Hispanic," "Hispanics," "Latino," "Latinos," "Latina," or "Latinas."  If the changes to the revised documents require promulgation under Arkansas law, then the requisite state office, department or agency shall promulgate the revised document in accordance with Arkansas law.

This Executive Order shall become effective upon its signing and shall remain in full force and effect until amended or rescinded by further executive orders. 

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and cause the Great Seal of the State of Arkansas to be affixed this 10th day of January, in the year of our Lord 2023.