Members of the Armenian community pictured with resolution co-sponsors (missing from photo is Sen. Joshua Miller). Pictured in front (l. to r.): Hrag Arakelian, Rep. Jennifer Boylan, Commissioner Kristine Donabedian, Michele Kazarian, Shahen Attarian, Sen. David Tikoian, Commission vice-chair Pauline Getzoyan, Anoush Arakelian, Steve Mesrobian, Ani Arakelian and Carol Mesrobian. Pictured in the back row (l. to r.): Levon Attarian, Steve Elmasian, Rep. Katherine Kazarian, Malcolm Varadian and Melkon Megerdichian.
PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Dozens of local community members helped the Rhode Island Holocaust and Genocide Education Commission mark the inauguration of Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Month. Held in the impressive State House Library on March 30, the program included remarks from members of the RI General Assembly who have been ardent supporters of genocide education legislation, including Rep. Katherine Kazarian and Sen. Joshua Miller, as well as Rep. Jennifer Boylan and Sen. David Tikoian, both newly elected and actively engaged with the work of the commission. Also present was longtime supporter Rep. Rebecca Kislak.
The crowd in the State House Library as Sen. David Tikoian offers remarks
The program focused on readily available resources and materials about genocides for students and the general public through local libraries across the state. In keeping with the theme, the commission displayed a wide selection of books related to various genocides, including the Native American, Cambodian, Rwandan and Armenian Genocides and the Holocaust. Copies of the book list were available for those in attendance and were distributed to public and school libraries across the state.
Commission chair Marty Cooper
Commission chair Marty Cooper opened the program with grateful acknowledgement to Governor Dan McKee and the General Assembly for their support of both the 2016 legislation requiring Holocaust and genocide education in the state’s secondary schools and the formal establishment of the commission in 2021. Cooper explained the commission’s purpose of supporting “school districts with development of curricula and professional development to enable the incorporation of genocide-related topics into their program of studies.” He noted that Rhode Island is one of the first states in the country to designate a full month to Holocaust and genocide awareness.
Cooper went on to discuss the reasons for an April genocide awareness month, including the need to remember and educate about these atrocities, to honor those who perished and those who survived, “to remember and to never forget” and to appropriately coincide with the commemoration days for Rwanda (April 7), Cambodia (April 17), the Holocaust (April 17-18) and Armenian Genocide (April 24).
“Today as we kick off April Holocaust and Genocide Awareness month in our great state, we will focus on what Rhode Island’s public libraries, including those in our schools have available to learn more about this issue,” stated Cooper. “That is why today we are meeting at the State House Library as a symbol of the state’s commitment to ‘Never Again.’”
Commission vice-chair Pauline Getzoyan
Commission vice-chair and Weekly editor Pauline Getzoyan read a special citation from Governor McKee, which reads in part: “In commemoration for your commitment and emphasis for the need of more Rhode Islanders to learn about the history of genocides, as well as discussion on how such atrocities can be greatly reduced or ended.” As a descendant of Armenian Genocide survivors, Getzoyan said her work with the commission is inspired by her maternal grandmother—Margaret Garabedian DerManuelian. Getzoyan, who was recently elected as the next chair of the commission, said her grandmother’s story of resilience, resistance and survival motivates her commitment to expanding genocide education. “Her story is nothing short of miraculous…I know she would be very proud of the work that’s being done here in the state of Rhode Island, which became her home,” said Getzoyan.
Sen. Joshua Miller
Sen. Miller offered his continuing commitment to Holocaust and genocide education in the state. He invited attendees to the introduction of the resolution, which he co-sponsored with Sen. Tikoian, in the Senate chamber designating April as Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Month.
Rep. Katherine Kazarian
Rep. Kazarian also promised her continuing support for the work of the commission, remembering how she felt during the Armenian Genocide centennial commemoration events in 2015. “There was really a buzz about us reliving through our trauma the stories of our ancestors in order to hopefully get some type of recognition,” shared Kazarian. “I remember attending those events in 2015. I remember reliving the stories and the tragedies. And I remember there being no recognition and how gut-wrenching it was. It made me feel so hopeless.” But then she recalled one of her mother’s favorite Mister Rogers quotations about looking for the helpers. She said that the helpers in 2016 were members of the current commission and the Armenian National Committee (ANC) of RI, many of whom were in attendance. These dedicated individuals and the Rhode Island legislature realized that “there was something far more powerful than recognition and that was education,” said Kazarian. This realization ultimately led to the law requiring genocide education in the state.
Rep. Jennifer Boylan highlighting the House resolution designating April as Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Month
Rep. Boylan introduced a similar resolution in the House the previous day recognizing April as Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Month and presented an official copy of it to the commission. In keeping with the special designation of April, the resolution strongly encourages “Rhode Island’s history and social science educators to incorporate lessons on past and current genocide atrocities into their curriculum and classroom discussions in order to encourage and foster a new generation with insight and the pledge to work to eradicate bigotry, prejudice, brutality and injustice.” As a Jewish American, Boylan said she has spent her entire life learning about the Holocaust. She recalled the influence of a family friend Helen Sperling, who dedicated her life to teaching tens of thousands about the Holocaust. She explained how Sperling was transported by cattle train to Buchenwald concentration camp, where she worked for years before being liberated in 1945. She would tell her audiences, “Moses brought you Ten Commandments; I am going to give you the eleventh: Thou shall not be a bystander.” Rep. Boylan wears a bracelet with those words to honor her friend and the memory of those lost in the Holocaust.
Sen. David Tikoian, Rep. Katherine Kazarian and Rep. Jennifer Boylan
“The work of the Holocaust and Genocide Commission is very personal to me,” began Sen. Tikoian, a grandson of Genocide survivors. “My grandparents Garabed Topalian and Tarvis Mesrobian arrived in America from Armenia in 1920. They arrived here as orphans – orphans because their entire family was massacred during the Armenian Genocide in 1915. It is because of their survival that I stand before you today,” he shared. Sen. Tikoian noted the forces of denial that continue to try and erase the Armenian Genocide from history, underscoring the need for education about past atrocities as the way to prevention and a more humane society. He concluded with gratitude and admiration for Cooper’s “many years of tireless advocacy on this education initiative” and his leadership of the commission. He also congratulated Getzoyan and highlighted her dedication to “carry on the important educational work and fine leadership of the commission.”
Coordinator of adult services at the Cranston Public Library Dave Bartos
Coordinator of adult services at the Cranston Public Library Dave Bartos brought the program to a fitting conclusion, highlighting the commission’s partnership with the state’s libraries. Bartos is a member of the RI Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee, which he said works to address “the rise in censorship and book challenges taking place across the nation.” He said the American Library Association has “documented 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022,” the highest number since data compilation began more than 20 years ago and the forces against which Rhode Island has not been immune.
“The same forces that are gaining purchase elsewhere are also at work here, seeking to restrict what students can read, the history they can learn and the representation they can see,” said Bartos. “Frankly it’s becoming increasingly difficult not to feel the echoes of the past reverberating in our present.” He invoked genocide education as critical to be able to say “never again,” an active phrase. “It is not something that will just happen without building education, understanding and empathy in ourselves and our communities,” he said. Bartos expressed gratitude to the commission for its work with the libraries providing resources, including book lists and curriculum materials. He stressed the need to build community solidarity – “to commit to a society where everyone is afforded the freedom to be their authentic selves, without fear of persecution or violence.”
The Senate monitor as the resolution is introduced
Following the program in the library, attendees headed to the Senate gallery for the introduction of the Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Month resolution mentioned by Sen. Miller, which he ensured was read on the floor. Senate President Pro Tempore Hanna Gallo, also a longtime supporter of genocide education legislation, introduced the members of the commission present on the Senate floor: Cooper, Getzoyan, Barbara Wahlberg and Anne Ejnes, as well as the commissioners in the gallery: Kristine Donabedian and Steve Flynn.
Introductions of Commission members (l. to r.) Marty Cooper, Pauline Getzoyan, Barbara Wahlberg and Anne Ejnes by Senate President Pro Tempore Hanna Gallo (pictured in front of the commissioners)
“Over the last 23 years, I have seen our Rhode Island Armenian community move from fighting for inclusion of the Armenian Genocide in a Genocide Education Curriculum Bill introduced by then State Rep. Aram Garabedian to having one of our own, Pauline Getzoyan, elected as the new chairperson of the Rhode Island Holocaust and Genocide Education Commission,” shared Steve Mesrobian. “This welcome change underscores how far organizations like the ANC of Rhode Island have been able to advance our cause.”
Shahen Attarian, a student at the event, was happy to witness the passage of the Genocide curriculum. “Now I have a chance to teach my friends about the Armenian Genocide and talk about it at school,” he said. “Now people can learn about my history.”
A proud Rhode Islander, Hrag Arakelian brought his young family to the event. “It was a historic moment to witness the state I live in take such an important action towards educating our children on the worst acts of humanity, in order to stop the cycle of genocide.”
A view of the Senate gallery during the reading of the resolution