Even You Can Change Mr. President; Now is the Time to Recognize the Genocide

On the eve of the ninety-fifth commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, Armenian-American youth remember the words of the then hopeful Presidential candidate Barack Obama: “America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide and responds forcefully to all genocides. I intend to be that President.” Yet, Mr. President, when the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res 252) on March 11, 2010 passed in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, members of your cabinet actively and publicly opposed the resolution, stating, “We are against this decision…the US Congress will not take any decision on this subject.” During your inspiring campaign of hope and change millions of youth around the country became civilly active for the first time supporting your run for presidency. Your vision of government where politics will no longer intervene with human rights and injustice struck a chord with what young Americans envisioned for the future of this nation. With regard to the Armenian Genocide, it was thousands of American Armenians who rallied around your campaign in hopes their country would finally halt its complacency with genocide denial. Many first and second generation American Armenians became excited about a candidate who pledged to finally recognize the heinous crime their ancestor’s suffered almost one-hundred years ago. The youth and future of this nation remains troubled and confused. Your campaign pledge to rectify past struggles of human rights, genocide prevention, and morality remains unfulfilled. As evidenced by the continued genocide in Darfur, and the failure to properly recognize the Armenian Genocide, the cycle of Genocide continues on your watch. The promises of hope and change which once excited the human rights community in hindsight seem to only have been campaign rhetoric. Yet as much as the Obama administration’s first year came and passed with disappointment, empty promises and even overtones of hypocrisy, the ability to bring change and fulfill your campaign promises remains on the horizon. This April 24th, Armenian Americans, from coast to coast, will take to the streets in protest of Turkey’s ongoing denial of the Armenian Genocide and your administrations complicity in that crime. From Los Angeles to New York and Washington DC, young and old, will demand an end to Turkey’s gag rule on their elected representatives and a return to a just and moral foreign policy based on proper recognition of crimes against humanity such as the Armenian Genocide. Once again, for yet another year, we ask you to stand by your campaign pledge and recognize the Armenian Genocide this April 24.