Truth, lies and the responsibility for Glendale’s future
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When I read Dan Kimber’s article, “Arriving at that elusive ‘truth,’
” I went into a sort of shock. His article appeared right under
another article about commemorating the Armenian Genocide on April
23.
This article was not one of the News-Press’ weekly bigoted letters
to the editor that I have become accustomed to. You know, the ones
that call Armenians hillbillies who have infested this fine city or
trivialize the cataclysmic nature of the Armenian Genocide by
claiming that all people have suffered and Armenians need to stop
complaining and “just get over it,” etc.
These types of letters infuriate all decent people, but Mr.
Kimber’s article was different than these letters. Mr. Kimber is not
an ignorant and bigoted man. He is an educator. One who I believe
cares about his students and his community. This is what is so
upsetting. How is it possible that he could write an article calling
the genocide an elusive “truth”? How could he quote a genocide denier
and present the “other side” of genocide?
Without any fact checking, Mr. Kimber makes reference to
unsubstantiated claims that try to blame the victims of an organized
and premeditated attempt at the annihilation of an entire ethnic
group. By including these outrageous claims in his article, Mr.
Kimber has allowed himself to be used in the campaign of denial.
I will not engage in a debate about the genocide. The evidence is
overwhelming. There is no debate on this issue, just a well-funded
campaign of historical revisionism by the Republic of Turkey and the
politicians and historians who are supported financially for their
part in genocide denial. The Armenian Genocide is a historical fact,
like the Holocaust or the genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda.
Although history is an art that requires interpretation, there are
not “two sides” to everything in history. Everything is not morally
ambiguous and relative. For example, the Holocaust occurred. The
Nazis were the perpetrators and Jews, gays, and other Eastern
Europeans were the victims. No responsible educator would deny these
facts. No responsible newspaper would publish an article denying
these facts. Mr. Kimber’s article was an offense to all people who
believe that there are moral truths in this world.
There are events that happen in history that are morally
reprehensible and are a threat to the survival of the species. When
the Ottoman Turks killed 1.5 million Armenian people, it was indeed a
crime against humanity and a prototype for genocide in the 20th
century.
Mr. Kimber did not blatantly deny the Armenian Genocide occurred.
However, he implied that the “truth” about the genocide was “elusive”
because Armenians allegedly committed equivalent atrocities against
Azerbaijanis and Turks. These allegations twist the truth so severely
that they become Orwellian in nature.
Let’s look at it this way: Let’s imagine that on April 18, which
is Holocaust Remembrance Day, that a local newspaper in a highly
populated Jewish community published an article about commemorating
the Holocaust. Let’s [call] this article “A Night to Never Forget.”
Tell me this, on that same page, would an article be published by a
local history teacher that discussed the “elusive truth” of the
Holocaust? Obviously not. The article would never be published, but
for the sake of argument, let’s say it was published. What do you
think might happen? I say letters would come pouring in from
horrified and angry people of all backgrounds. There might be
boycotts, a definite retraction and an apology from the newspaper,
even national news coverage ... it would so outrage everyone. Yet,
here in Glendale, Mr. Kimber and others like him feel free to
question the Armenian Genocide during the April 24 commemoration.
It is the ease and comfort with which people feel free to write
bigoted and hateful letters and articles that truly frightens me.
There is something happening in our community that goes far beyond
offensive articles and ignorant comments. There is a reemergence of a
climate of hate and intolerance that I want us to be aware of.
Two issues that seem to have exasperated the intolerance and
polarized this city were the lowering of the American flag on April
24 and the school district’s academic calendar. Whatever one’s
feelings about these issues, there is no excuse for attacking the
character of an entire ethnic group and questioning the validity and
significance of the Armenian Genocide.
Glendale must become a city where we can have healthy debates and
disagreements with each other without viciously attacking and
insulting each other. I am asking all of us to take responsibility
for the future of Glendale. Don’t do it for your Armenian-American
neighbors, do it for yourselves. What is really at stake here is the
soul of this city.
TALIN TAMZARIAN
Glendale