Blog

Recognizing that the admission was overdue, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday issued an apology for the “systemic slaughter of California Indians” and called it a “genocide” that must be acknowledged.

Newsom, a Democrat, made the remarks to a gathering of tribal leaders at the future site of the California Indian Heritage Center in West Sacramento. The apology is codified in an executive order (pdf), which also calls for the creation of a Truth and Healing Council.

A press statement from the governor’s office describes his actions as “the first time a state has taken dual action to correct the historical record and acknowledge wrongdoing through executive order mandate and a tribally-led, consultation-informed council.”

The “only way to right a wrong is to acknowledge there was a wrong,” said Newsom. He pointed to examples of state-backed violence against native people, including the state’s first governor ordering a “a war of extermination,” as a “stain on our state.”

“It’s called a genocide. That’s what it was—a genocide. No other way to describe it,” he said. “And that’s the way it needs to be described in the history books.”