April 24 in Los Angeles - 2004
There is so much to say about this day, in the one place in the world where there are the most Armenians, outside of Armenia (although this will be debatable in a few years). Ooremn...
1) March in Little Armenia @ 10am: In its 4th year, this time organized by the United Young Armenians, this march took place in Little Armenia (Hollywood). It begins on Hobart St., and goes around about 4 blocks and once again ends on Hobart. This year, it seems at its fullest point, there was a maximum of 7000 people (with my achki chap). Not as much as previous years, and certainly not as much as the year this first took place. There were mostly older people, but I'm glad to say that I saw a lot more young people there this year... which is great. At the end, there was a stage set up, where there were speeches and song/poetry. I guess one thing that really stood out for me, and was a little weird, was that the entire program was in Armenian. Absolutely nothing in English. What would the media report on? ... didn't get that.
2) Monument in Montebello @ 1pm: Like every year, there was a commemorative ceremony at the Monument. Although I didn't attend, I know that Parliament member, Levon Megerdichian was to give a speech there, along with other city officials and representatives. I don't really know how this went... haven't gotten a "report" on it yet, but I'm sure it was fine.
3) Protest at the Turkish Consulate @4pm: This year the LAPD was scarce. This was something you noticed immediately! There were hardly any cops around, unlike last year and the year before when there were so many policemen, they were actually doing the monitoring for us, and their horses were smelling up our air! Not a lot of police, no horses. Interesting. There were I'd say 5000-6000 people there, which was great. Obviously the Turkish Consul's office was closed, as was almost everything else, since it's Saturday. (Glendale was a Ghostown.. hahaha)
4) Program at the Glendale Civic @7pm: This is the 2nd year this happens, organized by the City, and a committee made up of reps from all sorts of Armenian organizations. I wasn't able to go, but I heard that it went well. They had various performers and city officials, art exhibits, etc.
5) Apparently there was a "march" (or shall I say small gathering) in front of the Armenian consulate organized by Opposition supporters. I heard there was practically no one there. ARF went on TV and told the public about how wrong it would be to march against ourselves on such a day, especially in the diaspora. The public agreed. (thank god)
6) There was a Youth Rally organized by the ARF Shant Student Association, AYF, and ANC-Professionals' Network. It took place on Friday, April 23rd where there were more than 1500 present. The program included keynote speaker David Barsamian, singers, video presentations, and poetry. I have to say that David Barsamian's speech was VERY interesting. He spoke about how Armenians should not focus on proving that the genocide happened, but rather DEMANDING recognition for it. He spoke about how the Turkish government, by no coincidence has a full page ad in the NY Times this week about how wonderful it is to travel to Turkey. And at the botton of the ad, there's a list of ancient people's who have at one point rules over that area... ummm.. no where are the Armenians mentioned. He spoke about the "memory hole" idea (which I have to admit I had never heard of), and he explained how we are slowly being thrown in that hole. I thought it was a similar idea to the Jermag Chart... but then that's just my opinion. He also mentioned how 33 states in the US have already recognized the Genocide, and this year Idaho and Montana were included in that list. ... He spoke about so many different things but all in all, the underlying message was that it is INEVITABLE... the genocide WILL be recognized. I agree.
There were so many other events.... but I thought these were the big ones, or ones I thought would be good to mention. The entire day, I was really thinking a lot about what April 24 really meant. Having had the experience I wrote about earlier, and realizing that some Armenians don't even care, cause it was just another Saturday for them... I just thought, "What if I didn't care either... how would my life be different?". I've always pondered this... but I could never imagine it... that's how much I care. I seriously believe that the Genocide has indeed affected my own psyche. And I got to thinking not really about the past, but about the possible (or inevitable) future. WHEN the Genocide is finally recognized, how will that feel? Automatically I remembered Egoyan's "Ararat", and the issues of denial in the movie. When someone is denied a truth, their life is altered. Like for example, when in the movie the father denied that the son was gay... they were both in turmoil, especially the son. When the father finally accepted his son for who he really is... there was peace within both of them. Egoyan is a genius!
During the march in Little Armenia, I heard some man discussing with another man, about how that day would NEVER come... and I felt pain. You know, years and years ago, grandparents and parents would never have thought that the Soviet Union would fall to pieces and Hayasdan would once again be a Free nation! But here we are today. We have a beautiful homeland, although it's 1/10 of what we once had. We have beautiful Armenian citizens guarding our current lands for us, even living under poverty stricken circumstances, and a corrupt government, only to wake up to seeing Ararat in the morning. The will of those people.... how could I not believe that one day our ancestral lands WILL return.. and I will be there to rejoice!
Last weekend I was at a HMEM workshop in which 3 HMEM scout chapters participated in, and I spoke to scouts ages 7-12 about Operation Nemasis. In the beginning I had some trouble trying to figure out how the idea of vengeance could be explained to a group of kids so young. Then I came across this book I have, which has the transcripts of Soghomon Tehlirian's trial in it. I flipped through the pages, and I came to the part where he explains how his family was killed... in front of his eyes (very gruesome). I said.. "perfect". What better way to understand vengeance than to somehow feel a LITTLE of Tehlirian's (and other's) pain. I realized that when I was explaining and reading Tehlirian's genocide experience, the kids' eyes were glued to me! Some of them flinched, because they were picturing Tehlirian's brother's skull being cracked open with an ax by a Turkish soldier.... And this weekend when I thought about all the Armenians who were doing khorovadz on their regular Saturday, I doubted that they even knew these details of the Genocide. I thought so highly of those kids for understanding and knowing.... each of those kids took the place of 10 of those apathetic Armenians.
Overall, I'm proud to have been able to participate in some of these events... see all the people being active, AT LEAST on this one day.
For now....
TSUH! :)
There is so much to say about this day, in the one place in the world where there are the most Armenians, outside of Armenia (although this will be debatable in a few years). Ooremn...
1) March in Little Armenia @ 10am: In its 4th year, this time organized by the United Young Armenians, this march took place in Little Armenia (Hollywood). It begins on Hobart St., and goes around about 4 blocks and once again ends on Hobart. This year, it seems at its fullest point, there was a maximum of 7000 people (with my achki chap). Not as much as previous years, and certainly not as much as the year this first took place. There were mostly older people, but I'm glad to say that I saw a lot more young people there this year... which is great. At the end, there was a stage set up, where there were speeches and song/poetry. I guess one thing that really stood out for me, and was a little weird, was that the entire program was in Armenian. Absolutely nothing in English. What would the media report on? ... didn't get that.
2) Monument in Montebello @ 1pm: Like every year, there was a commemorative ceremony at the Monument. Although I didn't attend, I know that Parliament member, Levon Megerdichian was to give a speech there, along with other city officials and representatives. I don't really know how this went... haven't gotten a "report" on it yet, but I'm sure it was fine.
3) Protest at the Turkish Consulate @4pm: This year the LAPD was scarce. This was something you noticed immediately! There were hardly any cops around, unlike last year and the year before when there were so many policemen, they were actually doing the monitoring for us, and their horses were smelling up our air! Not a lot of police, no horses. Interesting. There were I'd say 5000-6000 people there, which was great. Obviously the Turkish Consul's office was closed, as was almost everything else, since it's Saturday. (Glendale was a Ghostown.. hahaha)
4) Program at the Glendale Civic @7pm: This is the 2nd year this happens, organized by the City, and a committee made up of reps from all sorts of Armenian organizations. I wasn't able to go, but I heard that it went well. They had various performers and city officials, art exhibits, etc.
5) Apparently there was a "march" (or shall I say small gathering) in front of the Armenian consulate organized by Opposition supporters. I heard there was practically no one there. ARF went on TV and told the public about how wrong it would be to march against ourselves on such a day, especially in the diaspora. The public agreed. (thank god)
6) There was a Youth Rally organized by the ARF Shant Student Association, AYF, and ANC-Professionals' Network. It took place on Friday, April 23rd where there were more than 1500 present. The program included keynote speaker David Barsamian, singers, video presentations, and poetry. I have to say that David Barsamian's speech was VERY interesting. He spoke about how Armenians should not focus on proving that the genocide happened, but rather DEMANDING recognition for it. He spoke about how the Turkish government, by no coincidence has a full page ad in the NY Times this week about how wonderful it is to travel to Turkey. And at the botton of the ad, there's a list of ancient people's who have at one point rules over that area... ummm.. no where are the Armenians mentioned. He spoke about the "memory hole" idea (which I have to admit I had never heard of), and he explained how we are slowly being thrown in that hole. I thought it was a similar idea to the Jermag Chart... but then that's just my opinion. He also mentioned how 33 states in the US have already recognized the Genocide, and this year Idaho and Montana were included in that list. ... He spoke about so many different things but all in all, the underlying message was that it is INEVITABLE... the genocide WILL be recognized. I agree.
There were so many other events.... but I thought these were the big ones, or ones I thought would be good to mention. The entire day, I was really thinking a lot about what April 24 really meant. Having had the experience I wrote about earlier, and realizing that some Armenians don't even care, cause it was just another Saturday for them... I just thought, "What if I didn't care either... how would my life be different?". I've always pondered this... but I could never imagine it... that's how much I care. I seriously believe that the Genocide has indeed affected my own psyche. And I got to thinking not really about the past, but about the possible (or inevitable) future. WHEN the Genocide is finally recognized, how will that feel? Automatically I remembered Egoyan's "Ararat", and the issues of denial in the movie. When someone is denied a truth, their life is altered. Like for example, when in the movie the father denied that the son was gay... they were both in turmoil, especially the son. When the father finally accepted his son for who he really is... there was peace within both of them. Egoyan is a genius!
During the march in Little Armenia, I heard some man discussing with another man, about how that day would NEVER come... and I felt pain. You know, years and years ago, grandparents and parents would never have thought that the Soviet Union would fall to pieces and Hayasdan would once again be a Free nation! But here we are today. We have a beautiful homeland, although it's 1/10 of what we once had. We have beautiful Armenian citizens guarding our current lands for us, even living under poverty stricken circumstances, and a corrupt government, only to wake up to seeing Ararat in the morning. The will of those people.... how could I not believe that one day our ancestral lands WILL return.. and I will be there to rejoice!
Last weekend I was at a HMEM workshop in which 3 HMEM scout chapters participated in, and I spoke to scouts ages 7-12 about Operation Nemasis. In the beginning I had some trouble trying to figure out how the idea of vengeance could be explained to a group of kids so young. Then I came across this book I have, which has the transcripts of Soghomon Tehlirian's trial in it. I flipped through the pages, and I came to the part where he explains how his family was killed... in front of his eyes (very gruesome). I said.. "perfect". What better way to understand vengeance than to somehow feel a LITTLE of Tehlirian's (and other's) pain. I realized that when I was explaining and reading Tehlirian's genocide experience, the kids' eyes were glued to me! Some of them flinched, because they were picturing Tehlirian's brother's skull being cracked open with an ax by a Turkish soldier.... And this weekend when I thought about all the Armenians who were doing khorovadz on their regular Saturday, I doubted that they even knew these details of the Genocide. I thought so highly of those kids for understanding and knowing.... each of those kids took the place of 10 of those apathetic Armenians.
Overall, I'm proud to have been able to participate in some of these events... see all the people being active, AT LEAST on this one day.
For now....
TSUH! :)
posted by shooosh at 8:40 AM
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