Sarah Huckabee Sanders Waves At Windmills

"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," said newly minted Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The she slapped down one of the thinnest versions of a Critical Race Theory ban seen so far in this season of CRT panic.

I fear Governor Sanders this much

Sanders did this via executive order, the kind of decree that runs around the legislature and another one of those things that some conservatives hate when other people do it. The executive order opens up with a bunch of whereas clauses including standard cliches (WHEREAS: Teachers and school administrators should teach students how to think—not what to think) and standard misrepresentations of CRT (WHEREAS: 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;). 

Then we get to the heart of the edict itself, which very much follows the boilerplate CRT gag laws we've seen, with some important differences. I'm going to include the whole thing here; you can skip down past it if you're low on patience:

1. The Secretary of the Department of Education (the “Secretary”) shall take the following steps to ensure that the Department of Education, its employees, contractors, guest speakers, and lecturers are in compliance with Title IV and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (P.L. 88-352, 78 Stat. 241):

1. Review the rules, regulations, policies, materials, and communications of the Department of Education to identify any items that may, purposely or otherwise, promote teaching that would indoctrinate students with ideologies, such as CRT, that conflict with the principle of equal protection under the law or encourage students to discriminate against someone based on the individual's color, creed, race, ethnicity, sex, age, marital status, familial status, disability, religion, national origin, or any other characteristic protected by federal or state law.

 
2. The Secretary is further instructed that if any items are found to conflict with the principle of equal protection under the law, then the Secretary is instructed to amend, annul, or alter those rules, regulations, policies, materials, or communications to remove the prohibited indoctrination.

3. Prohibited Indoctrination Defined: No communication by a public-school employee, public school representative, or guest speaker shall compel a person to adopt, affirm or profess an idea in violation of Title IV and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (P.L. 88-352, 78 Stat. 241), including that:

4. People of one color, creed, race, ethnicity, sex, age, marital status, familial status, disability, religion, national origin, or any other characteristic protected by federal or state law are inherently superior or inferior to people of another color, creed, race, ethnicity, sex, age, marital status, familial status, disability, religion, national origin, or any other characteristic protected by federal or state law

5. An individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of the individual’s color, creed, race, ethnicity, sex, age, marital status, familial status, disability, religion, national origin, or any other characteristic protected by federal or state law.

6. An individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of the individual’s color, creed, race, ethnicity, sex, age, marital status, familial status, disability, religion, national origin, or any other characteristic protected by federal or state law.

7. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the discussion of ideas and history of the concepts described in subsection (c) or shall be construed to prohibit the discussion of public policy issues of the day and related ideas that individuals may find unwelcome, disagreeable or offensive.

8. As it relates to employees, contractors, and guest speakers or lecturers of the Department of Education, the Secretary is directed to review and enhance the policies that prevent prohibited indoctrination, including CRT.

9. The Secretary shall ensure that no school employee or student shall be required to attend trainings or orientations based on prohibited indoctrination or CRT.

It's the usual pile of baloney, rooted, I think, in a belief that our nation totally wiped out any legitimate concerns about race and anyone who is still bringing it up is just doing it to game some kind of political advantage. Rooted, also, in the whole notion that talking about equity and diversity and inclusion is somehow picking on white folks. This is baloney, but it is also empty performative baloney. 

The power of the worst of these laws comes from three factors-- vagueness, enforcement, and penalties. 

Vagueness involves prohibiting anything that involves race or gender or just making students uncomfortable. The worst of these laws (eg Florida) capitalize on that vagueness by using the Texas shuffle--making citizens the enforcement arm by giving any citizen the power to bring a lawsuit against teachers and/or districts just because that citizen (no matter how whackadoodle she may be) thinks Something Bad has been done. Therefor penalties for even getting close to the line include getting dragged into court. On top of that, some states have also played with loss of license for teachers and loss of money for districts.

As bad as Sanders's decree is, it lacks all of these weaponizing features. The secretary of education has to enforce this, and the penalties are... a scolding? And the prohibitions are specific enough to border on the dumb. Don't be explicitly racist or sexist. And I'm pretty sure #6 says "It is bad to break federal anti-discrimination laws." 

It's a technique that harkens back to conservative pushback against Common Core-- set up a straw man, wave at it, declare victory, lead the groundlings in a big cheer for you. It's a political cousin to loudly passing a law against allowing yetis to ride unicorns and then declaring, "See! You haven't seen any have you! Yay, me!"

Yes, it's bad, and yes, the MAGA folks understand that this only means the racism where white victims get racistly picked on, and yes, there's undoubtedly more baloney to come from this administration. But this edict mostly looks like a stunt, a piece of political posturing meant to whip up the base without actually doing anything. In other words, one more sign that Governor Sanders will govern as a grifter. Good luck, Arkansas.