HOUSE MEMORIAL 54
56th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2023
INTRODUCED BY
Rod Montoya and Luis M. Terrazas and Tanya Mirabal Moya and Martin R. Zamora and John Block
A MEMORIAL
REQUESTING THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT AND THE HIGHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO RESTRICT THE TERM "LATINX" AND SIMILAR TERMS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND POST-SECONDARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AS AN ALL-ENCOMPASSING TERM IN REFERENCE TO PEOPLE OF HISPANIC DESCENT.
WHEREAS, the term "Latinx" or "LatinX" has emerged as a pan-ethnic term for the words "Latino/Latina" and "Hispanic"; and
WHEREAS, the Spanish language has existed for more than one thousand five hundred years and traditionally consists of grammar using masculine and feminine constructs; and
WHEREAS, the term "Latinx" or "LatinX" is inappropriate within the masculine and feminine constructs of the Spanish language, and its use therefore disrespects and disregards the historical and cultural context of the Spanish language; and
WHEREAS, approximately only three percent of Hispanics use the term; and
WHEREAS, the term "Hispanic" is an appropriate "gender-neutral" term;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the public education department and the higher education department be requested to restrict the term "Latinx" or "LatinX" in public schools and post-secondary educational institutions as an all-encompassing term in reference to people of Hispanic descent; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the public education department be requested to prohibit the use or purchase of any instructional materials for use within a public school classroom using the term "Latinx" or "LatinX" as an all-encompassing term in reference to people of Hispanic descent; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislature commit to preserving the Spanish language in its natural and unaltered form; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
transmitted to the secretary of public education, the secretary of higher education, the secretary of cultural affairs, the presidents of all post-secondary educational institutions in the state, the superintendents of all public school districts, the head administrators of all charter schools, the presidents of all local school boards and governing councils in the state and the chair of the legislative education study committee.
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