(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Sarah Huckabee Sanders wishes Arkansas could be like it was when she was a girl [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-03 A history of racism in Arkansas. From Grandfather, to son, to daughter Arkansas’s newly installed governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, has two prominent items on her agenda — canceling drag queens and banning the official use of ‘Latinx’. Are those really the most pressing issues facing the state? Most disinterested observers would point to other deficiencies and failures. But as long as conservatives can fight culture wars, they will avoid the intractable but critical issues dragging red states down. Whatever. Sanders's distress at vocabulary choices and guys in dresses is so profound she longs for the halcyon days when things were, in her estimation, better in her state. In January, as Governor-elect, she told the local Fox affiliate, ‘I want the Arkansas that my kids grow up in to be the same one that I did, the same one that I love, where it doesn’t matter where you start, you get to decide where you will finish.” Sanders did not mention that she was born in the same year (1982) that Arkansans re-elected Bill Clinton as Governor. This Democrat would hold the position for all of Sanders's young years until he was elected President in 1992. This omission is unsurprising, as conservatives come naturally to revisionist history — where they imagine the past as a fairy tale kingdom. And scrub away the facts gainsaying their idyllic narrative. Sanders's memory of good times past is informed by the fact that she grew up in comfort as a member of a prominent local family. Her father, Mike Huckabee , was the Pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Pine Bluff. In 1989, he was elected President of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. By 1993 he was the state Lt. Governor. And in 1996, he ascended to the Governorship. Life would have been good for the then 14-year-old — and nothing like the one poor and minority residents of the state were living. The Arkansas she pines for was even less hospitable for people of color than the state is today. It was only a generation removed from the nationally infamous desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock in 1957, which revealed the ingrained antipathy Razorback whites felt for other races. In 1983, the state recognized Martin Luther King Day, but until 2017 they also celebrated the holiday by commemorating Gen. Robert E. Lee. In her nostalgia for imaginary better times, Sanders unconsciously recognizes that her state is lacking. While the Arkansas of her youth was not as she imagines it, the state today is a veritable mess. Statistically, the place ranks near the bottom in economic, educational, and health measures. The state has limited academic vitality. US News ranks the University of Arkansas 87th in public universities and 187th among all schools — Arkansas State University is 317th. The state is 41st in high school graduation rate. And as bad as that is, things get worse . Arkansas is #48 in college graduation and #49 in residents with an advanced degree. This lack of educational attainment correlates with Arkansas's dismal economic performance. The state ranks 48th in both GDP and income per capita. Conservatives slam blue states for being high tax — but do not mention that they are also high income. If Sanders is correct that Arkansans can choose where they will finish, many have opted to end up ill-educated and in an early grave. Arkansans die younger than most Americans. The state is 44th in life expectancy. The average resident lives 73.8 years - 5 years less than the average American, about the same as a citizen of Kazakhstan, and a month or so more than a Bangladeshi. It does not help that Arkansans are more likely to be overweight than the average American (who is no shining example in the first place). The state is 48th in obesity . On a positive note, the youths of Arkansas are “only” 39th in childhood obesity . Baby steps? Arkansas lives up to its Bible belt geography by being America’s 5th most religious state - with 70% of the residents claiming to be “ highly religious .” These are not people who believe in telling kids about sex and contraception. Their abstinence-only approach to sex ed has led to Arkansas being 11th in STD rate , right behind its Deep South neighbors. Things are also grim for married couples. Arkansas leads the nation in divorce rate — which likely springs from people rushing into bad marriages due to sexual tension and cultural opprobrium of fornication. This religiosity has also failed to keep the citizens on the biblical straight and narrow. Arkansas has the 5th highest crime rate in the nation. And despite their pro-life philosophy, the state has the fourth highest murder rate . Also, making a mockery of the claim that “God makes you moral," it has the 2nd highest rape rate . Arkansasans can congratulate themselves on one metric — intoxicants. The state may have the 6th highest smoking rate . But it is the 14th lowest in drug overdose deaths. And 3rd lowest in alcohol consumption . I suppose this means lung cancer patients in Arkansas are unlikely to be hungover. (Celebrate the wins.) I do not know if Sanders knows these statistics and ignores them. Or if she, despite a lifetime in the state, has no clue how in bad a shape (literally) it is. Regardless, in a state where you are more likely to be divorced, raped, obese, sexually diseased, ill-educated, murdered, poor, and die younger than most Americans, it is monumentally callous to make your priority attacking men who love women’s clothing and makeup. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/3/2150875/-Sarah-Huckabee-Sanders-wishes-Arkansas-could-be-like-it-was-when-she-was-a-girl Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/