WATERTOWN TOWN COUNCIL MAY ASK BLUE CROSS TO SEVER TIES WITH ‘NO PLACE FOR HATE’ OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By Steve Bagley
Watertown TAB & Press
Wed Aug 13, 2008, 11:07 AM EDT
MA
Watertown’s Town Council, which last summer launched a state-wide
movement to decry the Anti-Defamation League’s stance on the Armenian
Genocide, may also sever ties with Blue Cross Blue Shield over
the issue.
The Town Council has decided to send Blue Cross Blue Shield of
Massachusetts a strongly-worded letter asking for the company
to explain why they fund the ADL’s "No Place for Hate" tolerance
program. The ADL, a group that fights anti-Semitism and other forms
of bigotry, has come under fire from Armenian-Americans and their
supporters for failing to unequivocally call the Armenian Genocide
a genocide.
Several people went to the Town Council meeting to cheer the
resolution. After the council decided to draft a letter, reactions
were mixed. Berge Jololian wanted the council to do more.
"It’s taxpayer’s money," he said. "Denying genocide is murdering the
victims twice, by erasing their memory from the pages of history."
Blue Cross is among the health insurance options for town employees.
Blue Cross Blue Shield Spokesman Jay McQuaide said the healthcare
provider would be happy to appear before the board.
"They’re an account," he said, "We’d be happy to talk to them."
McQuaide said the healthcare provider was very happy to be associated
with the ADL’s mission.
"We’re very proud to be the first company to be named a ‘No Place
for Hate’ company."
The healthcare provider has been funding the ADL’s program since 2001,
he said.
"It’s a great message against intolerance," McQuaide said. "It’s a
key part of our diversity program for employees."
Read the Town Council resolution (pdf)
The letter will go out by August 14, Councilor at Large Mark Sideris
said. Town Council President Clyde Younger pushed for the letter
because he wanted to give the healthcare provider a chance to explain
why they are apparently sending money to the Anti-Defamation League,
despite the ADL’s continuous refusal to call the eight-year slaughter
of 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman empire a genocide. It would
be only fair to give BCBS a chance to explain themselves, Younger said.
"I don’t like to make decisions in ignorance," Younger told a council
room packed with members of Watertown’s Armenian community and their
supporters. Younger is among those who has Blue Cross insurance.
Councilors said if the health company does not appear before the board,
they would go forward with a resolution demanding they stop sending
cash to the ADL. That resolution was sponsored by Town Councilors
Steve Corbett, a candidate for state representative, and co-signed
by Councilors at Large Marilyn Devaney and Mark Sideris.
"It’s the next step toward advocating for the Armenian people,"
Corbett said. "It’s a simple request. We’re requesting Blue Cross
Blue Shield sever its ties with ADL and ‘No Place for Hate.’"
Watertown thinks it can tell Blue Cross Blue Shield what to do
because many Watertown residents, including members of the council,
have insurance with the company, Devaney said.
"Blue Cross Blue Shield is blatantly using people’s money, taking their
subscribers’ money and using it supporting programs to deny Armenian
people their history, denying the Armenian genocide," Devaney said.
The ADL did not return calls for comment.
Of Blue Cross’ 3,800 Massachusetts employees, McQuaide said, he was
sure there were some of Armenian descent. McQuaide refused to state
on the record how the company justifies the ADL’s mission with its
ongoing denial of the Armenian genocide.
Khatchig Mouradian, editor of the Armenian Weekly, an Armenian
newspaper based out of Watertown and circulating in 32 states across
the East and West Coast, said the Town Council’s resolution is the
next step in a long process.
"This issue hasn’t stopped," Mouradian said. "As long as there are
people in different towns and different communities willing to stand
together with Armenians, the issue will continue to come up."
Mouradian had harsh words for the Anti-Defamation League. They have
not been doing their job, he said.
"It is expected that the ADL be as firm when it comes to the denial
of other holocausts," the editor said.
When Watertown first stopped supporting ‘No Place for Hate,’
Mouradian said, a movement spread across Massachusetts, the country
and eventually, the world.
"Some of the major activists behind this were Watertown residents
first," he said.
Several nations changed their foreign policy decisions, Mouradian said.
"It was being talked about in the Turkish Parliament," Mouradian
said. "When ADL issued the statement [the Armenian Genocide] was
‘tantamount to genocide,’ even the Turkish Parliament was upset."
The Anti-Defamation League has posted a statement on their Web site
after several municipalities in Massachusetts left or suspended their
ties to ‘No Place for Hate.’ It said if the word genocide existed
during the time of the Armenian genocide, from 1915-23, that word
would have been used. The ADL refers to the three-year organized
slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians in living in the Ottoman Empire as
"tantamount to genocide."
"’Tantamount to genocide’ is not good enough," said Alin Gregorian,
editor of the Mirror Spectator, another Armenian paper based in
Watertown.
Gregorian said many of the survivors of the genocide are almost 100
years old.
"I’m afraid it won’t get official recognition in their lifetimes,"
she said.
Devaney was overcome with emotion when she discussed why she cosigned
Corbett’s resolution.
"They took the people across the desert, put them into caves and
gassed them," Devaney said, sobbing. "Hitler got the idea from them."
Devaney took credit for getting 13 municipalities to cut ties with ‘No
Place for Hate.’ She said she had hope for Corbett’s initiative, too.
"I’m very confident. We’re close. We’re going to do it," Devaney
said. "Right here, we should make a stand."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
