SOUTHERN CALIFORNIANS REMEMBER THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Los Angeles Times, CA
April 24 2008

Many of Southern California’s more than 300,000 Armenians will today
gather at memorial services, protests and other events to mark the
93rd anniversary of the Armenian genocide. The striped Armenian flag
was already seen fluttering from cars earlier this week as local
Armenians prepared for the emotional and controversial observance of
the more than million people who died under Ottoman rule in what is
now modern Turkey.

The anniversary has long been denounced by many Turks and others,
who dispute the larger number of deaths or that the genocide even
occurred. Last year, the most recent effort to have the U.S. government
officially recognize the genocide triggered a bitter battle on Capitol
Hill. The animosity lives on, and one of today’s events includes a
human rights protest outside the Turkish consulate.

There are also new tensions. On Wednesday, a memorial assembly at Grant
High School in Van Nuys lead to a shouting match between Armenian
and Latino students. Several students were sent home and additional
school district police officers patrol the campus for the remainder
of the week.

Today’s memorials, however, remain a source of pride for Armenians,
including a young generation far removed from the pain and suffering
of nearly a century ago.

"A lot of people ask me why we care so much, especially the
youth because we are a few generations out from the genocide,"
twenty-year-old Caspar Jivalagian told the Times Molly Hennessy-Fisk
last year year. "Every Armenian we have it in us, under our skin."