If you thought Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) was going to give it a rest with the complaints about how they're supposedly "banning books," think again. He took it to a whole new level with Wednesday's tweet. And this is a man who claims he's not running for president.
"Let’s take a moment to talk about this. There is a full-throated purge effort going on here by the far-right that we have not seen for decades. They are on a boycott binge and cancel crusade, trying to eliminate the existence of minority communities," Newsom warns. His tweet gets crazier from there. "Burning Flags. Banning Books. We have seen this before. And it’s happening everywhere, all across the country. Woke has become just another a dog whistle," he writes, before issuing a call to action that also warns he may only be getting more involved from there. "We must continue to call out hate when we see it, as they keep trying to normalize it. If we go silent, this will only get worse. We cannot become numb to this."
Let's take a moment to talk about this.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) May 31, 2023
There is a full-throated purge effort going on here by the far-right that we have not seen for decades.
They are on a boycott binge and cancel crusade, trying to eliminate the existence of minority communities.
Burning Flags. Banning…
It's a not so thinly veiled comparison to Nazi Germany. Told you he was ratcheting it up. Further, people are not "trying to eliminate the existence of minority communities," but rather protect children from indoctrination. At the end of his political screed, is an article from the Los Angeles Daily News.
For context, a pride flag in a plant pot outside of an elementary school within the Los Angeles Unified School District was lit on fire, and is being investigated as a vandalism hate crime, a misdemeanor. Parents there have been protesting the school putting on a pride event there on June 2 and have been expressing concerns over social media, handing out flyers, as well as encouraging other parents to keep their children home.
There have been no suspects and parents protesting don't think that anyone of their group is responsible for the act being investigated.
The article in question does quote parents at length who are protesting the event, so it is something that they're giving these parents a fair shake. However, it does go with many leftist narratives that it's crucial to provide context to.
The article itself mentions that parents aren't anti-LGBT, but rather don't think reading a book about LGBT is appropriate for elementary school kids:
Ana, a parent in the group who asked that her last name not be published in the interest of her family’s safety, said she does not believe any member of the group is responsible for the possible hate crime.
“None of us parents are aware of who the person might have been who set the flag on fire,” she said. “None of us would jump the fence or set the flag on fire because we don’t want to bring that negativity to the school where our children are.”
Ana said she wants to make clear that the parent group is not anti-LGBTQ+, but is made up of parents who feel that the book reading, that is in part about LGBTQ+ parents, is not an age appropriate subject for grade school students.
According to LAUSD, the assembly will include a reading of The Great Big Book of Families by Mary Hoffman, which describes family types including multi-cultural families, multi-racial families, single parent families and families with LGBTQ+ parents.
The bill also mentions Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act, because of course it does, though it never refers to it by its correct name. California laws, in contrast, are painted with a rosy picture:
In March 2022, Florida passed a ban on teaching sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. In April, the Florida Board of Education expanded this ban, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay Law”, to apply to all grade levels. Similar laws are in the works, or have passed, in more than a dozen other states.
The California state legislature has adopted laws intended to uphold rights of LGBTQ youth. Senate Bill 48, passed in 2012, requires all public schools to include LGBTQ+ history in social studies curriculum. The California Healthy Youth Act enacted in 2016 requires schools to teach about sexual orientations and gender identity.
California, thanks to Newsom's preoccupation of making his state a "sanctuary" for leftist ideals of abortion up until birth and performing irreversible procedures on children, has invited parents to bring children who may be experiencing gender dysphoria to go through processes that could involve puberty blockers, genital mutilation, as well as sterilization.
The piece also goes on to mention a rise in "domestic violence extremists," though it was revealed last September that the Biden administration has had a particular fixation with such a threat that may not be as prevalent as claimed. There's also been internal quotas to meet.
If there's something Newsom means to "talk about," it's almost certainly not the obsessive, partisan politics of it all. He'd rather just keep going with his sensationalized narrative. Perhaps he should be willing to "talk about" how school districts in his own state have actually banned books, though.
This is the most recent tweet since Monday's tweet--yes from Memorial Day--blaming a shooting at Hollywood Beach on a law Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), which hasn't even gone into effect yet. The tweet has since been slapped with community notes.
DeSantis signed a permit-less carry bill in April that removes requirements for:
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) May 30, 2023
-background checks
-instruction
-training+oversight
Until our leaders have the courage to stop bowing down to the NRA and enact common sense gun safety this kind of senseless violence will continue. https://t.co/iX6ryxsPwv
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