GENOCIDE AWARENESS ACT" CLEARS CALIFORNIA STATE SENATE
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Jun 4th, 2009
SACRAMENTO, CA – Despite intense opposition from Turkish lobby groups,
the California State Senate unanimously passed the "Genocide Awareness
Act" (SB 234) on Tuesday.
The legislation, which seeks to explicitly include an oral history
component to the already mandated genocide education curriculum,
would expand the perspective through which California students learn
about this crime against humanity. Both the current legislation and
the current curriculum directly reference the Armenian Genocide as
well as several other 20th Century genocides.
"Survivor, witness and personal testimony represent powerful ways of
educating California’s students about the true horrors of genocide,
the ongoing cycle of mass atrocities that continue to plague our world,
and – of course – the urgent need for us, as Americans, to work with
each other and the international community in eradicating this crime
forever," said Aram Hamparian, ANCA Executive Director. "We value the
leadership of Senator Mark Wyland and are proud that the California
state Senate has remained at the vanguard of genocide education by
adopting this measure."
The Armenian National Committee of America led the Armenian American
community effort to support this legislation. ANCA activists traveled
to Sacramento and sent WebFaxes to their Senators earlier in the
year and throughout April to raise awareness about the importance of
the bill. The bill was introduced by California Senator Mark Wyland
(R-northern San Diego County).
On April 29, during a hearing in the California State Senate Education
Committee, Armenian American activist Harry Boghossian, a resident
of San Diego County traveled to Sacramento to testify before the
committee in support of the bill.
As part of his testimony, Boghossian referenced US Ambassador
Henry Morgenthau noting that the Ambassador had "the willingness
to record the atrocities as a credible, U.S. government document,
readily available in the U.S. archives. This document serves as a
legitimate itemization of the Genocide. In so doing, he kept the
remembrance of the Armenian Genocide alive in the face of today’s
Turkish government plot to cover up the truth and deny that the
Genocide ever existed. We must never live in the denial of the
truth." (Read more about Boghossian’s testimony)
Genocide denial lobbyist Bruce Fein was dispatched from Washington,
DC to testify at that same hearing in opposition to SB 234. Fein
is a Board Member of the Turkish Coalition of America and active
with the Turkish American Legal Defense Fund, a front organization
promoting genocide denial through similar testimony and lawsuits
against prominent civil rights groups, including the Southern Poverty
Law Center (Read more about the lawsuits). During the hearing Senator
Joe Simitian was outspoken in confronting Fein’s denial the Armenian
and Cambodian genocides as well as ongoing genocide in Darfur. (Read
more about Fein’s efforts in Sacramento).
"Truth and our commitment to education won today. Having worked with
students in the classroom on this subject I know that oral histories
are fundamental in helping convey the lessons we need to learn in
order to prevent genocide and punish its perpetrators," remarked
Shant Hagopian, an ANCA Leo Sarkisian Internship alumnus and recent
graduate from the University of California, Berkeley where he also
volunteered with the Genocide Education Project.
Having cleared the California State Senate, SB 234 now moves to the
California State Assembly for consideration and approval. Should it
be approved by both chambers Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger would
then have the opportunity to sign the legislation into law.