SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation Sunday declaring September 15 to October 15, 2019, as Latino Heritage Month in the state of California.

The text of the proclamation follows:

PROCLAMATION

On any given morning, Latino Californians will rise with the sun to give back to our communities and power our thriving economy, the fifth-largest in the world.

When César Chávez said, “We have seen the future and the future is ours,” this was the California he envisioned, where the sons and daughters of the farmworkers he organized could excel in every conceivable endeavor, including the highest levels of our government. Today, the 15 million Latinos who call California home – a diverse group that traces their heritage all over Latin America – comprise a vibrant and thriving community.

Throughout their long history in California, Latino leaders have propelled movements, developing civic power to promote social change, and they continue to shape critical conversations today. During Latino Heritage Month, we honor the bright future that these valued members of our California family have helped build for us all.

California knows that our diversity is our strength and that our thriving Latino community contributes to that strength today and into the future. Latinos also help account for the remarkable diversity of our youngest Californians, who will grow up to be the next generation of leaders in our state. More than half of our state’s children are Latino, and 80 percent of young Latino children live in a home where a language other than English is spoken.

Latinos in our state always have been, and always will be, part of our California family. Any hateful rhetoric against them runs contrary to the facts and our values as a state. We overcame anti-immigrant and xenophobic policies of the 1990s, and today we recommit ourselves to rejecting all forces that oppress our fellow Californians.

I urge all Californians to join me during Latino Heritage Month in celebrating the past, present and future contributions of Latinos to our California story.

NOW THEREFORE I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim September 15 to October 15, 2019, as ‘Latino Heritage Month.’

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 12th day of September 2019.

(signed)
GAVIN NEWSOM
Governor of California

(signed)
ALEX PADILLA
Secretary of State