Armenian Remembrance Day
By Jerrold D. Green
On April 24, 2021, President Joe Biden made a momentous and long overdue announcement that “the American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today.”
Arabkir Church, Yerevan, Armenia, via Unsplash
This announcement has special resonance here in California where so many of our friends and neighbors are of Armenian heritage. More than 160,000 people living in the Greater Los Angeles area identify as Armenian. Although President Biden’s announcement has unique meaning for this community, it should resonate with all who believe in human rights and democracy, irrespective of their place of origin.
Genocide does not occur suddenly nor in a vacuum. It is the barbaric culmination of events that — although not always leading to genocide — are horrible nonetheless and impossible to justify.
At this moment when we share in the recognition of the unimaginable fate that befell the Armenian people, let us be mindful of the precursors to genocide everywhere so as to recognize and counteract them.
Jerrold D. Green is the president and CEO of the Pacific Council on International Policy
