Spreading the word on genocides
Organizers to use Charter Channel 6 to reach wider audience for Week of
Remembrance
Glendale News-Press
April 16, 2004
By Josh Kleinbaum
GLENDALE CITY HALL – The city’s annual Week of Remembrance kicked off
Thursday night in traditional fashion, with a panel discussion on the
Armenian Genocide and other atrocities.
But event organizers are trying to bring this year’s weeklong event,
which officially begins Monday and commemorates the lives lost in all
genocides, including the Armenian Genocide, to a wider audience than
usual, including non-Armenians and youth.
“The whole point of this committee was to educate non-Armenians,” said
Ardashes Kasakhian, executive director of the Armenian National
Committee and a member of the Week of Remembrance’s organizing
committee. “A large part of Glendale knows April 24 commemorates
something, but I’ve heard people call it a celebration. We’re not
celebrating. It’s an international day of mourning.”
From 1915 to 1923, the Ottoman Turks and the Republic of Turkey are
accused of killing 1.5 million Armenians, in an attempt to eliminate the
Armenian people known as the Armenian Genocide.
To reach that wider audience – the people who do not already know about
the history of the Armenian Genocide and the significance of April 24 –
the committee is taking to the airwaves.
The city’s cable network taped the kickoff discussion, attended by
Glendale Community College students, and will air it on Charter
Communications Channel 6 throughout the week, beginning Monday. For a
schedule of show times, visit .
Along the same lines, the committee will launch a yearlong
public-service announcement contest, modeled after a contest sponsored
by moveon.org for commercials deriding President George W. Bush. The
contest winners will be announced and aired on Channel 6 during the 2005
Week of Remembrance.
“People will have a whole year to prepare this,” said Mayor Bob
Yousefian, who also chairs the organizing committee. “We’ll have people
in the movie industry act as judges. They’ll pick one, and we’ll
continue to play those PSAs on Channel 6.”
The committee is planning a handful of other events for the Week of
Remembrance, including an art exhibit, blood drive, formal program and
candlelight vigil at the Glendale Civic Auditorium on April 24, and a
monthlong book drive for the Glendale Central Library’s new genocide
collection.
But the panel discussion and the public-service announcements underscore
the committee’s effort to reach a wider audience. Both will reach
Channel 6’s diverse audience, and appeal to youth.
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