Resolution Filed at Arkansas Legislature Calling D.E.I. “Essential” to Society and American Dream

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A resolution filed at the Arkansas Legislature on Tuesday calls Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies “essential” to society and the American Dream.

DEI policies have gained traction in recent years as a way to create an equal playing field for racial and ethnic minorities — especially in the workplace. But it did not take long for LGBT groups and others to hijack DEI policies.

Today, DEI policies often are closely aligned with critical theory and other divisive ideologies.

According to critical theory, society consists of two groups — those who have power and those who do not — and institutions like the church, family, government, or law enforcement are tools of oppression.

Critical theory as a whole distorts reality and misunderstands human nature, society, and institutions.

Activists have used Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies to put critical theory’s flawed worldview into practice in the workplace, in education, and in the government.

S.C.R. 2 by Sen. Jamie Scott (D — North Little Rock) and Rep. Jay Richardson (D — Fort Smith) is a bad resolution that calls Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion “essential to creating a society where all individuals are valued, heard, and included,” and says that “efforts to attack DEI are harmful to the bottom line and health of our economy.”

Unfortunately, DEI policies don’t ensure individuals are valued, heard, or included, and they actually hurt our economy.

Employees who hold biblical views of marriage or gender risk losing their jobs in workplaces that have adopted DEI policies. And nationwide, DEI has caused major corporations to face serious backlash from customers.

S.C.R. 2 is correct when it says the American Dream “belongs to all of us” and when it acknowledges that many people today feel the American Dream has become unattainable. But the past few years have demonstrated that critical theory and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies don’t solve those problems. If anything, they seem to make the problems worse.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Bill Would Bring Ultrasound Images to Arkansas Classrooms

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A new bill filed at the Arkansas Legislature would ensure public school students see high-definition video of ultrasound images and a popular pro-life video concerning fetal development.

Ultrasound images help clearly demonstrate that unborn children are living human beings. Research indicates that some women are less likely to have an abortion if they see an ultrasound image of their unborn child. Very few medical advancements have done more to change hearts and minds on abortion than ultrasound technology.

H.B. 1180 by Rep. Mary Bentley (R — Perryville) and Sen. Clint Penzo (R — Springdale) ensures public schools show students a high-definition ultrasound video that is at least three minutes long as part of sex-education and human growth and development education.

The bill also ensures students see Live Action’s computer-animated “Meet Baby Olivia” video that teaches about human development from conception to birth.

You Can Read The Bill Here.

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DOJ Illustrates How Black Market Marijuana is Growing Like a Weed

Marijuana

A recent news release from the U.S. Department of Justice illustrates how black market marijuana operations continue to be a problem in states that have legalized the drug.

In a press release updated on January 6, the DOJ wrote,

OKLAHOMA CITY – JEFF WENG, 47, of China and Brooklyn, New York, has been sentenced to serve 120 months in federal prison for his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy, announced U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester.

On June 6, 2023, a federal grand jury charged Weng and co-defendant Tong Lin, 29, with conspiracy to possess marijuana plants with intent to distribute.  On January 18, 2024, after a two-day trial, a federal jury deliberated about an hour before it found Weng and Lin guilty of drug conspiracy.

Between December 2022 and May 2023, evidence at trial indicated that Weng managed a marijuana grow in Wetumka, Oklahoma, and licensed by the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority. Evidence showed that Lin managed matters when Weng was not present. One witness testified that, as part of their participation in the drug conspiracy, they drove delivery vans disguised as commercial vehicles, including one disguised as an “Amazon” delivery van, to the Wetumka Grow 10 to 15 times between December 2022 and March 31, 2023.  The witness further testified that they picked up between 150 and 200 pounds of marijuana each time from the Wetumka Grow, and that Lin helped load the fake “Amazon” delivery van with marijuana. The witness testified they transported the marijuana to a stash house in Oklahoma City. Every Friday, the witness transported the marijuana from the stash house to a warehouse in Oklahoma City. There, they loaded more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana at a time into a semi-truck trailer, which transported the marijuana from Oklahoma to the East Coast. Over approximately seven months, the witness shipped upwards of 56,000 pounds of marijuana out of Oklahoma via semi-truck. Evidence also showed that law enforcement searched the Wetumka Grow in May 2023 and located 19,661 marijuana plants in various stages of growth, more than $100,000 of vacuum-sealed cash hidden in Weng’s closet attic space, and a firearm.

We have written again and again about how legalization in other states has actually emboldened drug cartels and organized crime who profit from marijuana.

Authorities in Arkansas routinely seize illegal marijuana from Oklahoma and other states along Arkansas’ highways.

Some of these illegal marijuana operations are tied to labor trafficking and violent crime, and some may actually have connections to foreign adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party.

NPR reports how illegal immigrants from China “are taking jobs at hundreds of cannabis farms springing up across the U.S.” Other correspondents have reported how these illegal marijuana operations contribute to “modern day slavery on American soil.”

Chinese organized crime is dominating black market marijuana in states where marijuana is legal.

The U.S. Department of Justice says Chinese drug cartels may be making millions of dollars from illegal marijuana in states like Maine, New York, Massachusetts, and elsewhere.

CBS News has highlighted how Chinese investment is driving illegal marijuana production across the U.S.

CBN reports that Chinese investors with “suitcases full of cash” are buying U.S. farmland to grow black market marijuana.

And CNN writes that “illegal pot production . . . provides a glimpse of a hidden world – one that mirrors a trend playing out not only in California, but in states such as Oklahoma, Oregon, New Mexico and Maine: groups of people with apparent ties to foreign countries – most notably China – producing weed in colossal volumes.”

All of this simply further underscores how marijuana may be many things, but “harmless” simply is not one of them.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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