‘Anti-woke is anti-Black’: California Gov. Gavin Newsom calls out attempts to drag America back to pre-voting rights

“They’re putting America in reverse, to a 1960s world,” the governor told Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has been vocal about the Trump Administration and various policies and decisions since President Donald Trump assumed office for a second term in January. In a new interview with the “All The Smoke” podcast, Newsom isn’t mincing words about his thoughts regarding the conservative-majority Supreme Court and how it appears current government ideology isn’t moving forward but backward.

“They’re putting America in reverse, to a 1960s world,” Newsom told Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson. “You got the Supreme Court talking about getting rid of the Voting Rights Act, and that’s very real. That may likely happen in a matter of months. They’re rewriting history, censoring historical facts. It’s an unf–king-believeable moment.” 

“All this anti-woke stuff is anti-Black. Period. Full stop.”

He continued, “All the CRT, ESG, DEI stuff? That’s all this is. It’s this great purge, and it’s happening in real time, and I’m sitting here like, ‘Luckily, I’m Governor.’ But we’re not doing enough. We’re not calling this out, we’re not drawing a line here. It’s not about Democrats or Republicans, it’s about who we are. Right and g–damn wrong. Daylight and darkness.”

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Critical race theory had once been considered a hot-button topic in recent years, but has died down since Trump took office in January and announced an executive order banning the teaching of CRT in K-12 schools across the country.

In recent months, Newsom has trolled Trump on social media and in the legislature. After Trump urged Texas to redraw congressional district maps mid-session to create five more Republican-controlled seats in Congress, Newsom called for a countermeasure to add five Democrat-led seats in his state via redistricting and put the measure to a vote to allow Californians to have a say in the matter. 

Former President Barack Obama applauded the move from Newsom, but suggested “political gerrymandering” wasn’t his “preference.” 

“I believe that Gov. Newsom’s approach is a responsible approach,” Obama said. “He said this is going to be responsible. We’re not going to try to completely maximize it. We’re only going to do it if and when Texas and/or other Republican states begin to pull these maneuvers. Otherwise, this doesn’t go into effect.”

However, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former Republican Governor of California, had a different take on the issue.

“I think when he — when they say this is temporary, there is no such thing. I mean, the longest programs are government programs that are temporary,” Schwarzenegger told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday (Oct. 26). “Okay, just remember that if this is a tax program or if it is the redistricting program, anything that is temporary with government is permanent.”

He added, “In the year 2032, when the independent redistricting commission is supposed to come back, they‘re going to say, ‘Wait a minute. There‘s still gerrymandering going on in Texas. There‘s still gerrymandering going on in Ohio. There‘s still gerrymandering going on in Florida. We have to continue with gerrymandering.’ This is what‘s going to happen. They will find an excuse. So therefore, I don‘t think it is temporary. So that‘s total fantasy.”