CALIFORNIA’S RACIST BILL

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CALIFORNIA’S RACIST BILL - ACR 241 Introduced by Assemblyman Lou Papan Sponsored by a Greek Racist Group August 28, 2002 On August 28, 2002, the California Senate passed Bill No. "ACR 241" which purports to recognize the following: "This measure would recognize that the ancient Macedonians were Hellenes, and that the inhabitants of Macedonia today are their Hellenic descendants and part of the northern province of Greece, Macedonia. WHEREAS, Philip of Macedonia, his son, Alexander the Great, and his tutor, the philosopher Aristotle, were born and raised in the northern province of Greece, Macedonia; and WHEREAS, The language and culture of the ancient Macedonians, the ancestors of the inhabitants of northern Greece today, were Hellenic; and WHEREAS, The Macedonians, like the rest of the Hellenes in antiquity, believed in the 12 gods of Olympus and participated with their fellow Hellenes in the Olympic Games; and WHEREAS, Pella, the palace where Alexander the Great was born, and Vergina, the burial site of the Macedonian kings, are all located in northern Greece; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature recognizes that the ancient Macedonians were Hellenes, and that the inhabitants of Macedonia today are their Hellenic descendants and part of the northern province of Greece, Macedonia; and be it further Resolved, That the history of ancient Macedonia has been Hellenic for 3,000 years and continues to be so today; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution." To read the entire bill click to: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_0201-0250/acr_241_bill_20020828_enrolled.html The bill was introduced by California Assemblyman Lou Papan and sponsored by a well-known Greek racist group going by the misnomer "Pan-Macedonian Association of America." Despite the name, it should be made clear from the outset that the "Pan-Macedonian" association is not an organization of ethnic Macedonians. It is a group of Greek racists working to deny Macedonians their basic rights in Greece and abroad. This group has ties to the Greek government and coordinates its activities with local Greek embassies and consulates. The purpose of this type of political mischief is to cover-up Greece's abysmal treatment of its Macedonian minority. California is the second US state to pass this resolution. The first was in Illinois in June 2002. To read about the Illinois resolution please click to http://maknews.com/html/illinois_sr0446.html. Macedonians may want to express their outrage over an American state legislature participating in this type of revisionism. Legislatures should deal with local legislation not the ancient history of another continent. It might also be prudent and far more topical to bring up the subject of Greece's abysmal human rights record. Your letters should be addressed to the United States Department of State requesting that state legislatures stop meddling in foreign issues and refrain from taking sides in ancient ethnic disputes. To send your letter to the US Secretary of State click to URL: http://contact-us.state.gov/ask_form_cat/ask_form_secretary.html The phone number for the Macedonian Desk at the US Dept. of State is: (202) 647-2452 You may also wish to carbon copy your letter to the relevant Californian Officials: Governor Gray Davis ([email protected]) and Secretary of State Bill Jones ([email protected]) Perhaps a well-written letter to the LA Times alerting them to this nonsense might be in order. Click to URL http://www.latimes.com/services/site/la-site-talk.htmlstory to contact the LA Time. To view the relevant page for this bill click to URL: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=acr_241&sess=CUR&house=B&author=papan Below are a some links documenting Greece's human rights abuses against Macedonians: Rainbow - Political Party of the Macedonian Minority in Greece http://www.florina.org United States Helsinki Commission Hearing, June 2002 http://www.csce.gov/briefings.cfm?briefing_id=219 The Balkan Human Rights Web Pages http://www.greekhelsinki.gr Macedonian Human Rights Movement of Canada http://www.mhrmc.ca Other Useful Links: HLA Genes in Macedonians and the Sub-Saharan Origin of the Greeks http://maknews.com/html/articles/hla_genes.html The British Foreign Office and Macedonian National Identity, 1918-1941 by Andrew Rossos http://www.maknews.com/html/articles/rossos1.html MakNews.com http://www.maknews.com Macedonia.org http://www.macedonia.org Pollitecon Publications http://members.ozemail.com.au/~pollitec Ancient Macedonians http://macedon.org/anmacs/index.htm