Thread by @tobeequal

A SERIAL THREAD:
I am 81 going on 60, which means that I have cast many votes in my lifetime, some big and some small. None is more significant to me than this one. Prop 16 is responsible for this distinction. Born in the Deep South, I am very familiar with being discriminated

against because of the color of my skin. It always pained me when this happened, because I had done nothing wrong and there was nothing I could do about it. As I grew older, in my mid-20s, my government acknowledged that what it been doing against me, and others like me was

morally wrong, and it put into law the fact that discrimination is not only wrong and contrary to American values, so shall it be illegal. Recognizing the damage done by earlier forms of discrimination, the Pres, acting by himself, authorized a temporary form of discrimination

that would be in my favor and others like me. It was called “affirmative action.” Despite this action, we held firm in our belief that discrimination on the basis of a person’s skin color and other such characteristics was WRONG and illegal. In 1996, the voters of CA decided for

several reasons that it considered race discrimination to be so egregious and contrary to the best interest of CA that the people wanted language enshrined into their constitution forbidding this from happening further. I am not not so naive that I believe all discrimination

has been banished from CA. Conditions for me and others like me, indeed for all of us, are infinitely better today, with regard to “race,” than they were 24 years ago. Yet, we are being asked to legalize discrimination and enable our government and all CA govt agencies to do

that which would have been unthinkable at almost any point in modern history: legalize race discrimination. For what purpose? “Asians” are over represented at UC, and (almost never stated publicly) Blacks are not getting enough public bid contracts. This is “progressive?” If the

voters of CA fail to defeat Prop 16, this will be a major stain on the history of a State that has historically distinguished itself as a beacon of genuine liberal thinking and a leader in the quest for equal rights for all people. Worse, the history of Americans of Chinese

will show Prop 16 alongside the Chinese Exclusion Act, should Prop 16 be passed. This is morally wrong, wrong, wrong! Anyone who lends support to this should be ashamed. /end