Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders Bans Term 'Latinx' On State Documents

[SilasSouleII]

I don't agree with SHS often or at all, but agree 100% on this.
LatinX is offensive. In my opinion, very offensive. Probably just as offensive to most Hispanic people as Xmas is to most Christians.
Trying to change spanish language grammer to appease 3% of mostly American Hispanics is not a good idea and should not be a term in any government document.

[jimfields33]

1. I agree.

[Ocelot II]

2. I don't disagree, but I doubt that her reason for doing it is benign.

She probably banned the term because she thinks it's "woke," not because it might be considered offensive to most Hispanic people - she wouldn't care about that.

[Mad_Machine76]

3. This

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

4. I'm not even sure if it appeased that many hispanics

But I am fairly certain it latinx has far more support among non spanish speaking whites then it does spanish speaking Hispanics. Every native Spanish speaker I know thinks it's a stupid term.

[Sympthsical]

12. This is the problem

The whole brouhaha is mostly white people explaining to Latinos how their culture and language is going to be.

Which . . . is a look.

[mathematic]

5. It's nothing like Xmas because the "X" in xmas is the "X" in "Χριστός"

That's greek spelling for Christos, aka Christ. I've never heard of any christians being offended by that. They're probably quite dumb though.

[SilasSouleII]

19. Thanks mathematic.

I learned something new today. I remember as a child in the 60's, my father and other adult relatives would get very offended with Merry Xmas signs and decor. He said they were trying to take "Christ" out of Christmas. I do notice that I don't see that term used very much anymore.

[ProfessorGAC]

26. Was About To Cover That!

You went another step by using the Greek alphabet. Nice touch.

[Sibelius Fan]

27. Bingo!

[muriel_volestrangler]

29. I know some people don't like it being said as "X-mas"

Because it seems to be trivialising it (and is no shorter to say than 'Christmas').

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

33. xmas is shorter to write

[leftieNanner]

6. Teach me something here

Why is that offensive?

I figured it was a way to include both Latino and Latina.

Please explain.

[SilasSouleII]

8. Ok

It is offensive because it is a term we Hispanics don't use.

Ruben Gallegos put it this way:
“When Latino politicos use the term [Latinx] it is largely to appease white rich progressives who think that is the term we use. It is a vicious circle of confirmation bias,” Gallego said in a tweet in December 2021.

Hispanic is gender neutral.

I am Latino. My sister is Latina. We are Latinos.

[leftieNanner]

13. Thank you

For educating me. I will not use that term again.

[hunter]

7. Grammar is what we make it. Language evolves.

And what is Christmas? It's just another made up holiday, a holiday certain not-very-nice Christians imposed on more ancient traditions.

Languages and religions that don't evolve are dead things.

[SilasSouleII]

11. So let's just adopt the urban dictionary as official for government use.

Imma gonna wanna... it's language devolution.

[hunter]

14. Some language comes and goes, useful language sticks around.

Latinx might have staying power, it might not.

Gender fluidity has always existed. How does our language evolve to reflect that reality?

[GreenWave]

15. Or usurp from others.

When the Roman 10 month calendar was shown to be ineffective they needed a week of fun and merriment to offset the blunder.
Gee parties? Exchange gifts? Candles in trees?

That Rah symbol is another biggie.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. Hucklebee wants to run for POTUS and is now competing with DeathSantis

This is just another stunt to appeal to MAGAnutcase and compete with DeathSantis and Abbott for the 2024 GOP nomination

[Genki Hikari]

39. She can want to do it all day

But, like her POS parental unit, she will never win that office. Her policies are as incoherent as they are bad, but the more shallow people in the country won't vote for her because she's unattractive, with a worse fashion sense.

I don't really care how the traitorous dim bulb looks, but that will matter to a bunch of people. That's just how it is. It will hurt her, from day one, and her campaign will die before it gets through February. Doesn't matter the year. She won't make it through February.

[MenloParque]

10. I do know that you don't call Mexicans in California Latinx. That's a no no.

Not so sure how people feel about LatinX in other parts of the US, but California pretty much canceled Latinx.

[hunter]

20. My California was Mexico before it was U.S.A..

Which has not been forgotten.

Terms like Latina, Latino, Latinx, Hispanic... sometimes seem an affront to that heritage.

[MenloParque]

23. Yessir. My husband has a Grandmother who is Mexicana and her family has been on California

Since the late 1700’s. She refuses all terms other than Mexicana. She jokes that she would rather be called Beaner before Latinx.

[msongs]

24. and it was something else before mexico took over nt

[Mr.Bill]

34. I have lived in Northern California for 62 years.

Mexican people here have a saying. "We didn't cross the border, the border crossed us."

[W_HAMILTON]

16. I -- and most people -- don't care one way or the other.

It's another issue manufactured by the rightwing, who, ironically enough, spends the most time talking about it nowadays.

It won't improve anyone's lives, just like some of the other silly ass symbolic shit -- I heard she did something about the DREADED CRT as well -- she did on her first day.

[Mr.Bill]

36. Yes, banning CRT

in schools where it was likely never taught. It's like banning Sharia law.

[gratuitous]

17. It's not uncommon to use in Oregon

And I've heard and seen it used by persons all across the human spectrum in government and with non-governmental agencies.

[LeftinOH]

18. Did she do this to appease the Hispanic community in Arkansas?

..or just to send a signal to the base (e.g. "real" Americans)?

[SilasSouleII]

22. I'm sure she doesn't give a flying f**k about the Hispanic community in her state

Heck, she probably thought she was sticking it to them.

[RANDYWILDMAN]

21. getty the nitty gritty work of government done, Sanders is a beast

way to work for all the people

[LeftInTX]

25. In what context?

If someone wants to identify as LatinX, they should be allowed to.

It's mostly a millennial LGBT thing or by people who align with LGBT. It's a small subset of Latinos who have a preference for the ID. But I know a few that do. (Mostly gay, young hipsters)

However, it is offensive to call all Latinos LatinX.

Context matters.

I wonder if this is another "Don't say gay" type thing?

I don't think Texas has a check mark for LatinX. It's always Hispanic here. But, then again I don't fill out every possible form.
_______________

For instance: There is an inmate in a county jail who identifies as Latinx. Will that person still be allowed to call themselves Latinx?

[SilasSouleII]

31. Howdy

Certainly anyone can personally indentify as anything they want. If someone wants to self identify as Latinx for whatever reason, no problem. Just don't expect all others to simply accept it for themselves. I have known people who self identify as Blaxican, Blackaneese, Nuyorican, Boriqua, Chicano, Mestizo. It's a personal choice but I dont think any of those terms will be showing up on any government paperwork.
Interesting theory on the LGBT angle. I wonder if there is a single term for being white and gay? Or Black and Lesbian? Or APPI and Trans? Would something like EuroX cover all white LGBT communities? Sometimes I wonder too much.

[LeftInTX]

35. I wonder if LatinX showed up on any "official government" documents anywhere?

Seriously???

Maybe there were some Cinco de Mayo proclamations such, "We celebrate with the LatinX community" or something like that...Other than that I really can't see "LatinX" being in any official Arkansas documents

[CatWoman]

28. ....

Link to tweet

[Behind the Aegis]

30. A case of someone getting something right for ALL the wrong reasons.

I have argued against this term for awhile now. Some claim it is about "inclusiveness", but, IMO, and the opinion of others, it is more about "white paternalism", that is, "we in the vaulted white academic world think...". "Latine/es" makes more sense and is more in line to an evolution in the Spanish language, as opposed to using the letter "X". In actual Latino/Hispanic (ok, only one Chicano source I read), the term "LatinX" is reviled or used as a joke, but, I have seen "Latine/s" in publications from Spain, Argentina, and ...fuck I can't remember the other country now! But, even that is still rather rare and usually only pops in queer spaces or stories about queer people.

[LeftInTX]

32. The "x" is used in indigenous cultures. I think that's where it came from

Use of x to expand language can be traced to the word Chicano, which had an x added to the front of the word, making it Xicano. Scholars have identified this shift as part of the movement to empower people of Mexican origin in the U.S. and also as a means of emphasizing that the origins of the letter X and term Chicano are linked to the Indigenous Nahuatl language.[22][28] The x has also been added to the end of the term Chicano, making it Chicanx. An example of this occurred at Columbia University where students changed their student group name from "Chicano Caucus" to "Chicanx Caucus". Later Columbia University changed the name of Latino Heritage Month to Latinx Hispanic Heritage Month.[22] Salinas and Lozano (2017) state that the term is influenced by Mexican indigenous communities that have a third gender role, such as Juchitán de Zaragoza, Oaxaca (see also: Gender system § Juchitán, Oaxaca, Mexico).[29] The term often refers specifically to LGBT people or to young people. Brian Latimer, a producer at MSNBC who identifies as nonbinary, says that the application of the term "shows a generational divide in the Hispanic community".[10]: 60  In 2016, a student newspaper described the term as "sweeping across college campuses in the nation with the intent of creating inclusion while inadvertently pitting members of the Latino community into a cultural war".[30] It received wider use after the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting.[31] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latinx

Essentially it's "anti-colonialism", non-binary....Lots of indigenous words in Mexico have "x's" in them, including the word "Mexico"

[tishaLA]

38. I never used it (even though most others are my university do/did)

because "it's not actual Spanish" and "Latinos as a plural means both make and female" and all those other rationales. And then a Latina (Latinx?) student asked me to start using it because it's inclusive of nonbinary people of Latin descent. And frankly, you'd rarely hear anyone say "Hispanic," either, because it's a word derived from Hispaniola, which is not where most Latinos in my area come from and is a colonialist term.

I'd also say that American Latinos constantly change the Spanish language to reflect their realities and come up with "Spanish" words derived from English" ("watchar" for to watch, "parkear" for to park, "calmate" for calm down come immediately to mind) and navigate their way through bilingualism in any variety of ways.