Governor and pastor say country is facing two pandemics: Covid-19 and racism; governor calls on moral leaders including teachers to help change hearts, minds and culture

In response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the subsequent protests throughout the state and nation, Gov. Newsom and Tecoy Porter, senior pastor of the Genesis Church in Sacramento, said the country is facing a “double pandemic.” The first is the coronavirus, they said. And the second is racism.

Newsom said that too often in the past, leaders have addressed similar incidents with rhetoric and a feigned resolve to create a new paradigm. But when things don’t change and history repeats itself over and over again, it becomes clear that the past ways of addressing systemic racism have not worked.

Newsom said he could put together a task force and promise a few pieces of legislation, but he knows that would not be good enough. “You’ve got to change hearts, minds, and culture,” he said, “not just laws.”

“We need moral leaders now more than ever who have the capacity to lead by example, to find our better angels, and focus on things that unite us, not divide us,” he said. Besides elected leaders, church leaders and community leaders, he called on teachers to also step forward as moral leaders in their schools.

“That kind or leadership is desperately needed in this nation,” he said. And while he promised to quell the violence that has erupted throughout the state, he said it is also important “to address the foundational issues that led to the violence in the first place.”