REMEMBERING GENOCIDE
Max Zimbert

Glendale News Press
/22/news/gnp-genocide042210.txt
April 22 2010
CA

Students from all Glendale high schools collaborate for remembrance.

About 900 people were exposed to original student poetry, song and
dance Friday at an Armenian Genocide remembrance ceremony at Glendale
High School.

The ninth annual Genocide Commemoration featured several performances
produced and orchestrated by students from all of Glendale Unified’s
high schools, as well as Toll and Wilson middle schools and Fremont
Elementary School.

"I want people to leave thinking, as a community we are united as
young adults to stop genocide and crimes against humanity," said Talar
Malakian, a senior and president of the Armenian Club at Crescenta
Valley High School. "If you don’t accept history, you can’t prevent
it from happening again in the future."

Students invoked ongoing bloodshed in Third World countries across
the globe as a call to arms to stand up against injustice.

"If we don’t keep fighting for this cause, it will happen over
and over again in places like Rwanda and Darfur," Atina Manvelian,
a Glendale High School senior and student board member, said in a
speech. "We need every person on our side."

The event featured dance and piano solos, poetry recitals in English
and Armenian as well as a video produced by students at Clark Magnet
High.

"I feel like I’m representing a lot of people who want to do this,"
said Patil Hassakorzian, a Crescenta Valley High senior and one of
the ceremony’s performers. "It feels really good."

Patil was one of a team of dancers who began their routine slowly,
before it accelerated to the beat of the music.

"Everything we do represents something," she said. "The music starts
slow and then becomes more upbeat. It shows we’re fighting through
it and not giving up."

The event is an important opportunity for students to frame the
genocide on their own terms, school board President Greg Krikorian
said.

"It’s about celebrating life in this great nation," he said.

Yvette Abrahamian said she’s taken her two young children to the
ceremony every year.

"They hang out with their friends, and it gives them a way to think
about the genocide," she said. "Even though they are born here,
they are Armenians and have to remember this day."

Many students participating have parents or family members who were
affected by the Armenian Genocide 95 years ago, said Vahik Satoorian,
president of the Davidian & Mariamian Educational Foundation, which
runs after-school programs in Glendale Unified and elsewhere in Los
Angeles County.

"They are honoring their ancestors," he said.

"It is good for them to know what genocide is and what it means for
humanity to respect other cultures. This is what we’re trying to
teach our children."

Students began organizing the program months ago, and said they
hoped the ceremony would inspire others to take action. Talar, the
Crescenta Valley High Armenian Club president, said students have a
few opportunities to take ownership of an event, but nothing on this
big a scale.

"We took it, spearheaded it and got it done," she said.

"It should be a message to a lot of youth in the community. If they
want something, they have a voice and can do it."