Complicit Chris Sununu and His Republican Majorities in the State House Continue to Double Down on Racist, Sexist, and Antisemitic Behavior

CONCORD, NH — Today the NH House voted to keep language from HB 544, the White Supremacy Protection Act, in the state budget. The language bans state agencies, K-12 schools, public colleges and universities, and state contractors from learning about and addressing systemic racism and sexism – a critical part of overcoming barriers to a healthy and equitable community.

Statement from Granite State Progress Executive Director Zandra Rice Hawkins:

“The passage of the White Supremacy Protection Act is a direct result of the failure of Complicit Chris Sununu and his Republican majorities in the State House to hold members accountable for spouting racist, antisemitic, and violent messages. For months, they have looked the other way instead of standing up for all Granite Staters. After a year of reckoning and sustained mobilization around racial injustice and as the COVID-19 public health pandemic lays bare the disproportionate health and economic impacts on people of color and women, this bill creates more hurdles to adequately responding. We cannot build a healthy and equitable community while politicians like Complicit Chris Sununu stand in the way and House Majority Leader and Free Stater Jason Osborne sponsors bills like this one.”

Background on HB 544

HB 544 is a near-carbon copy of the Trump Administration’s executive order last fall “to combat offensive and anti-American race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating.” Essentially, this bill would prevent people from learning about systemic racism and sexism – creating more barriers to being able to address it. The language contradicts core public health findings, promotes a narrative that portrays diversity trainings that address racism as dangerous, is ahistorical; and is so vague that it has a foreseeable chilling effect on legitimate trainings.

Background on Complicit Chris Sununu

Granite State Progress launched ComplictChrisSununu.com earlier this year, which details how #ComplicitChris Sununu has coddled white nationalism, violent rhetoric, and extremist movements in New Hampshire. Sununu has yet to call for the resignation of State Rep. James Spillane (R-Deerfield), who encouraged violence against racial justice advocates, and State Rep. Dawn Johnson (R-Laconia), who posted racist, anti-Semitic material; nor has Complicit Chris called for the resignation of the (6) Republican State Reps who declared the State of New Hampshire terminated. Earlier this year, Sununu compared the outrage over racial discrimination last summer to the violent insurrection that took place in Washington DC. On HB 544, Sununu told media outlets he could not support it unless it was amended – a dog whistle statement on a bill that is inherently racist and sexist and cannot be amended into something otherwise.

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