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'Don't Say Something, Do Something': Gov. Newsom Meets With Community Members In South LA Amid Ongoing Unrest

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Gov. Gavin Newsom Wednesday met with community members, elected officials and youth leaders in South Los Angeles following more than a week of protests against police brutality in the wake of the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

For complete coverage of the situation in Minneapolis visit CBSMinnesota.com and stream CBSN Minnesota

Newsom met small business owners in Leimert Park and officials at Community Build, an organization founded after the 1992 riots created to expand opportunity in Black communities.

Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Los Angeles, and County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas joined the governor and helped assemble meals at the Hot & Cool Cafe for seniors and other community members in need.

Newsom said he would be meeting with Mayor Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles Police Department officials and representatives for Black Lives Matter at some point, though not simultaneously.

"The most important thing is just to not pay lip service to this moment," Newsom said. "Demonstrably, people have to know, they have to feel it in their bones that this time is different. Don't say something, do something and prove to me that you can rebuild trust."

The governor said the ongoing unrest was a topic of discussion during a Tuesday meeting of his business advisory team.

"The entire conversation yesterday was about equity, and about the fact that businesses can't thrive in a world that's failing," Newsom said. "That was not the agenda yesterday, the agenda was on the continuity and continuation of the work we're doing on economic recovery, and all of a sudden, there is no economic recovery unless justice is the paradigm. The entire work group now is flipped ..."

Newsom also called for comprehensive reform of law enforcement, mental health care, education and other essential sectors of public life and said he would reject President Donald Trump's attempt to send the military into major cities.

(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)

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