The Armenian genocide

NY Times

Adam Schiff on commemorating the Armenian genocide:

For tens of thousands of my constituents whose families have experienced unmitigated tragedy and loss, they’ve been disappointed by politicians their entire lives, and presidents of both parties, Democrats and Republicans, have refused to recognize the truth behind their suffering, that they and their ancestors were the victims of genocide.

I am writing, of course, of the Armenian Genocide.

For more than two decades, I have had the privilege of representing the largest Armenian-American community in America. The Armenian-American community is like so many others — its members care about education and health care and opportunity for themselves and their children — but they also are a tightly knit community with a deep sense of their history. And for year after year, they have seen presidents fail to recognize the catastrophe that befell their parents, grandparents and great grandparents, and which led their families to build new lives in America.

For those of you who don’t know about this terrible chapter in history, in its waning days, the Ottoman Empire undertook a systematic campaign in 1915 to exterminate the Armenian people.

American diplomats recorded the events in real time, yet they lacked a name for the barbaric and systematic extermination of a people. Millions of Armenians were beaten, raped, killed, and marched across deserts. And in the end, 1.5 million Armenian women, men and children lay dead.

It was not until Raphael Lemkin coined the term “genocide” in 1943 that we had a word to describe the sheer magnitude of evil of seeking to destroy an entire people and culture.

Out of the blood and rubble, the Armenian people survived, and the orphans of this society crossed the ocean to build lives in California and around the nation.

Every April 24, we commemorate the Armenian Genocide — the families torn apart, the lives lost and the culture that survived. In Los Angeles, we march, we remember, and we pledge never to forget.

For tens of thousands of my constituents, recognition of the genocide has been a lifelong struggle, passed down for generations. It is a deeply personal struggle, because the denial of that crime is an ongoing injury. The wound remains fresh.

And it’s been deeply personal for me, too. I’ve sat with survivors of the Genocide, been welcomed into their homes and heard their stories of forced marches through the Syrian desert, and the murders of the parents, brothers and sisters. I’ve watched them relive the pain, with tears streaming down their faces, and it is just like it was yesterday.

With each commemoration, I’ve watched as their numbers dwindled, hoping and praying that we could achieve recognition while some remained who were witnesses. Last session, the few who remain were able to see the genocide finally recognized by the U.S. Congress. But still, not by a U.S. President, not since Reagan, and even then, not in a statement devoted to the Armenian Genocide alone.

For weeks, I’ve been on the phone with members of the White House and Cabinet to underscore what recognition of the Armenian Genocide would mean, especially now.

President Biden promised to recognize the Armenian Genocide while running for office, and he just fulfilled his promise.

The feeling on the streets of Little Armenia in Hollywood this morning was electric. President Biden defied Turkish threats and recognized the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians for what it was — the first genocide of the 20th Century.

In doing so, the President has cast aside decades of shameful silence and half-truths, and the broken promises of so many of his predecessors, and spoken truth to power.

For my constituents, it doesn’t matter if it was a Democrat or Republican speaking this simple truth — just that the President of the United States said it. Finally.

Speaking this simple truth can help deter other crimes against humanity by demonstrating that those who engage in mass murder will be held accountable. 

Because genocide is not some relic of the past, it’s happening right now in places around the world. Only months ago, Turkey and Azerbaijan made war against the Armenians in Artsakh, and many Armenians fear that another genocide could take place at any time.

As we commemorate the 106th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, we remember the lost souls, and pledge to keep their memory alive — through word and deed.

We will never again be silenced. We will never forget.

Map of the 1915 Armenian Genocide in the Turkish Empire

Biden calls mass killing of Armenians a ‘genocide’ in break with previous presidents

The Armenian genocide in history and politics

Good intentions are killing people in San Francisco

In today's NY Times: San Francisco Contends With a Different Sort of Epidemic: Drug Deaths.

The drugs killed them in plain view — in front of the public library, at the spot on Powell Street where the cable car used to turn around. Others died alone in single-room apartments or in camping tents pitched on the pavement, each death adding to an overdose crisis that is one of the worst in the nation.Drug overdoses rose across the country during the coronavirus pandemic. 

But in San Francisco, they skyrocketed, claiming 713 lives last year, more than double the 257 people here who died of the virus in 2020. San Francisco’s overdose death rate is higher than West Virginia, the state with the most severe crisis, and three times the rates of New York and Los Angeles. 

Although overdose data from the past year is incomplete, one researcher found that San Francisco — where overdoses have more than tripled since 2017 — has more overdoses per capita than any major city on the West Coast. 

The drug deaths in San Francisco — about two a day — stem from a confluence of despair. Fentanyl, an opioid that was not a severe problem for the city just a few years ago, has fully permeated its illicit drug market and was a factor in most overdoses last year. 

A culture of relative tolerance toward drug use has allowed it to spread quickly. And fentanyl, much more powerful than heroin, has found fertile ground among the city’s thousands of homeless residents, who have died of overdoses in large numbers....

In a widely-ignored post two years ago (Arrest anyone who shoots up on city streets), I advocated changing the clearly failed "harm reduction" policy on public drug use by adding crucial tough love to both reduce public squalor and save lives.

Shoot up in public in San Francisco? That's a bust. Go directly to jail where you take part in a drug program---or you can kick cold turkey in jail if you choose.

The "relative tolerance" approach is in effect enabling people to kill themselves in the city. 

City Hall and city progressives should ponder the implications of the old saying: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." (Good intentions and unintended consequences)

This mentality undermined the city's approach to homelessness from the beginning of that now chronic social problem. Gee, these poor folks have a housing problem. Well, yes. But those of us with eyes could see that many homeless had visible and crippling drug and/or emotional issues.

Ignoring that reality, city progressives focused on housing, that the solution to homelessness simply requires more affordable housing, a half-truth that ignored the drug and mental health aspects of the problem.

See also Oh Gavin, you're such a bitch! from 2005 and San Francisco, Hostage to the Homeless.