Glendale News Press, CA
May 18 2013

News-Press Editorial: Tending the flame of genocide’s victims
May 17, 2013

Those tending the flame of those who perished in the Armenian Genocide
had a bit of a mixed bag this week. In happy news, Glendale Unified
and its teachers’ union agreed to make April 24 – the day that
commemorates the horror – an official day off.

This agreement makes a lot of sense for all involved. Students of
Armenian descent have skipped going to class on that day for years,
and as public school funding is significantly based on attendance,
making the day a holiday of sorts is an elegant end-around of this
problem. The agreement, which lasts for a year, extends the school
year by three days, but makes the Thanksgiving Break a full week in
addition to making April 24 a non-instructional day.

On the other side of the ledger is Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-Burbank)
perennial call for the United States to formally recognize the
genocide that took place at the hands of the Ottoman Empire between
1915 and 1918.

This is not to at all denigrate Schiff’s attempt, which would provide
a small measure of justice for the 1.5 million Armenians massacred at
the hands of the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1918. Instead, it is
to call attention to the strong, almost inevitable, likelihood that
the measure will fail, as it has each of the several times Schiff has
attempted to get Congress to pass the resolution.

Little has changed politically, and it seems telling that President
Obama – who held a wide-ranging press conference with Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip earlier this week – did not even mention the
issue.

In situations like this, it seems best to focus on the positive, and
we applaud the agreement to make April 24 a day off for Glendale’s
students and teachers. Perhaps they can use part of the day to lobby
our federal officials.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress