A new television
ad narrated by actor Samuel L. Jackson highlights
discriminatory practices that cast a shadow over
California's short history.
"It wasn't that
long ago that discrimination was legal in California,"
Jackson says. "Japanese Americans were confined in
internment camps. Armenians couldn't buy a house in the
Central Valley. Latinos and African-Americans were
told who they could and could not marry. It was a
sorry time in our history. Today the sponsors of Prop. 8
want to eliminate fundamental rights. We have an obligation
to pass along to our children a more tolerant, more
decent society. Vote No on Prop. 8. It's unfair and
it's wrong."
Barring people
from marrying "was wrong then, and it's wrong now,"
former state assembly speaker Fabian Nunez said in a press
release. "Proposition 8 is a lot like that unfair ban on
interracial marriage. And even though people may feel
differently about marriage, everyone ought to agree
unequal treatment under the law is a bad thing."
Maria Armoudian,
an Armenian-American radio personality for KPFK,
mentioned that the proposition eliminates equal rights for
some while continuing to grant the same right to
others. "We Armenians have had to endure a century of
discrimination," she said. "Let us now stand together
calling for an end to discrimination for all people."
(Michelle Garcia, The Advocate)