LAUSD Opens its Eyes to the Armenian Genocide

By: Talar Simonian '21 & Anna Makaryan '22

(Image courtesy of latimes.com)

On October 6th the Los Angeles Unified School District agreed to commemorate and recognize the Armenian Genocide. Students will now have a “pupil-free day” on April 24 to observe the remembrance of what happened on this day.

Petrose Keshishyan, a senior and the president of the SOCES Armenian, felt really happy and overwhelmed.

“It has been years and years and years of waiting for this to happen,” said Keshishyan. He believes that schools need to teach and educate students about the Armenian Genocide, as well as pointing out, “many many people are uneducated about this matter.”

“Students now have the opportunity to have their voices heard, marching on April 24th and not just Armenians but non-Armenians, and not having to worry about getting marked absent for that one day.” Petrose also stated that it is important that the school board has recognized this day because now people are slowly getting educated about this topic.

The process of this recognition started when a current teacher at SOCES, Ms. Anna Sarkisyan, played a major part by spreading awareness, alongside Armenian students, marching downtown where the LAUSD building is located. This decision was also composed among the conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan when a war began on September 27th. Turkey did say that they want to “finish the genocide.”

“I do believe that the war going on has played a role in the decision… the reason is now they don’t just hear it from us Armenians, they’re hearing about it from all over the world, seeing it on the news…. It’s time they finally understood what happened and I think seeing what’s going on in Armenia right now opened their eyes up a bit,” Petrose indicated.

The Armenian Genocide is a tragic, gut wrenching topic for most Armenians today. In the year 1915, the Ottoman Empire brutally murdered 1.5 million innocent Armenians. Turkey forced Armenians out of their homes to go on death marches along the Syrian desert, walking until they starved, and leaving them to die. They raped Armenian women and robbed the men, before murdering them and their children. They also burned churches, schools, homes, and managed to take most of Armenia’s land. To this day, the 1915 genocide is still denied by the Turkish government.

It is important that LAUSD recognized the genocide because it is crucial for students to understand and learn about this event, and to hopefully not repeat them. Students and their families can engage in marching on April 24th to commemorate and remember this day in history.