What you need to know: Governor Newsom joined members of the Governor’s Council on Holocaust and Genocide Education during the body’s inaugural convening today in Sacramento.
The Council’s leading academic experts and advocates are tasked with promoting Holocaust and genocide education throughout California to provide young people with the tools necessary to recognize and respond to antisemitism and bigotry on campus.What Governor Newsom said: “While other states rewrite history and whitewash the painful parts of our past, California is moving in the opposite direction. We’re making sure that future generations avoid making the same painful mistakes, and instead forge a better way forward.” Why it’s important: With reports of hate crimes reaching the highest levels in more than a decade in both California and the nation — including a 32.2% recent spike in anti-Jewish hate crimes in the state — the Governor’s Council on Holocaust and Genocide serves a vital role in ensuring students are taught the lessons of genocide and the insidious nature of bigotry and hate.
Governor Newsom has long made the eradication of discrimination and hate a priority. Working with the Jewish Caucus and Legislature, the Newsom Administration successfully secured critical budget funding to develop curriculum resources related to Holocaust and genocide education, support anti-hate programs that provide direct support for impacted communities and victims and help nonprofit organizations that are targets of hate-motivated violence improve security at their facilities. The Governor established the Council on Holocaust and Genocide Education in 2021 and announced diverse leaders and experts in Holocaust and genocide education to serve on the Council in 2022.