Press Release
FUSD Board of Trustees Recognize H (Hratch) Roger Tatarian by naming
school in his honor
Armenian Museum of Fresno
550 E. Shaw Ave. Fresno CA 93710
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Person: Varoujan Der Simonian
Contact
Number: 559.224.1001
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October 14, 2021
Fresno,
CA: We are pleased to report that the Fresno Unified School District
Board of Trustees unanimously voted to rename Forkner Elementary School after world-renowned journalist,
author, and prominent educator H. (Hratch) Roger Tatarian.
In
over 140 years of Armenian presence in Fresno County, this is the first
time that out of 110 schools in the district, one of the schools will be named
after an Armenian-American.
Few years ago, knowing
that there is no single school in the district named after any prominent
individual of Armenian descent in Fresno, former FUSD trustee Michelle Asadoorian
began exploring the possibility of naming a school. She spearheaded a campaign by
forming a committee of concerned individuals, who helped raise the level of
attention, creating awareness in that matter.
In this
community wide effort, Armenians and Non-Armenians alike worked together to
honor one of Central California’s prominent individuals who had an illustrious
career as a journalist on the world stage, and as a professor, educating
students to become world class journalists while teaching at Fresno State
University, where Endowed Chair in Journalism is named in his honor.
“On behalf of
the Armenian-American community of greater Fresno I appreciate the FUSD
Board of Trustee members for their decision,” said Asadoorian. “I also would like to thank our committee
members who worked diligently during the past seven-month-long process, and to all
our friends, who participated and contributed in educating the public at large
by writing articles, letters, and or through personal contact assisting us in accomplishing
our mission.” Asadoorian added.
A product of
Fresno’s own public school system and a makeup of our multicultural society,
Tatarian’s life story could inspire students of deprived and affluent families
alike. Tatarian personifies hope,
inspiration, courage, determination, vision and success – virtues in life that would
help parents and teachers to motivate their children and students in building a
cohesive community.
Following is The
Fresno Bee Editorial written by the Bee’s
opinion editor Tod Weber as published today, October 14, 2021 highlighting three
important reasons of this decision.
Fresno board stands against racism
and upholds an Armenian star by renaming school
By Tad Weber October 14, 2021 12:47
PM
After a torturous process that
dragged out over several months, the Fresno Unified School District trustees
did the right thing Wednesday night in renaming Forkner Elementary for one of
the city’s star residents.
As of fall 2022, the school in
northwest Fresno will become H. Roger Tatarian Elementary. That is important
for three reasons.
First, Tatarian was a Fresno native
who rose to become editor in chief of United Press International, one of the
world’s two leading wire services. As such, he oversaw a news report that went
to millions around the globe. Just on those merits alone, naming a school after
Tatarian was deserved.
Second, Tatarian was an Armenian
American. Fresno Unified has more than 100 campuses, and none had been named
for an Armenian. The Armenian heritage in Fresno covers more than a century,
having begun out of the genocide that started in 1915 in their European
homeland, then controlled by Ottoman Turks. About 1.5 million Armenians died in
that genocide, an event many historians think was a precursor to the Nazi
Germany’s attempt to rid the world of Jews in the Holocaust.
Third, Forkner refers to J.C.
Forkner, a Fresno builder who developed Fig Garden. Forkner used deed
restrictions that made buyers commit to not selling their homes to any
“Asiatics, Mongolians, Hindus, Negroes, Armenians or any natives or descendants
of the Turkish empire … .”
The practice morphed into red-lining
by financial institutions, and effectively shut off home-purchasing
opportunities to anyone from those groups. Fresno suffers today from the
impacts of such race-based restrictions.
This larger point was mostly lost on
a group of Forkner parents who attended the school board meeting to protest the
renaming.
Forkner and racism.
It is probably asking too much to expect
such parents to see the bigger picture. Forkner is their children’s school, and
they would want to keep it as is. That is understandable.
But, one parent inadvertently got to
the larger meaning when she said the restrictions put in place by Forkner in
first half of the 1900s were legal.
Yes, they were. But that’s the
point. It was legalized racism. It was also legal at one time to keep Black
students separate from white kids. In
Fresno, it was legal to keep Chinese residents “across the tracks” from where
whites lived. Being legal then does not make it right.
Thankfully, in 2021, Americans — and
Fresnans — are coming to grips with mistakes and failures of the past. It is
simplistic to label it as “cancel culture.” Actually, it is better called
maturing.
Renaming this elementary school pays
overdue honor to Fresno’s Armenian community and, at the same time, stamps out
the memory of a man who built his wealth through the use of racist covenants.
The school trustees of decades ago,
when Forkner first opened, should never have named it after him. But they did,
and years later a different board — composed of a Black woman, three Latinas, a
Filipina and a white man — unanimously made the right decision.
Teaching moment
Mark Arax, a local
Armenian-American, former Los Angeles Times reporter and best-selling author,
told the board that renaming the campus after Tatarian would accomplish
historical restitution and reckoning.
He also encouraged the Forkner staff
and parents to use this as a teaching moment. That’s probably a hard sell,
given the high emotions on display at the meeting.
But that is exactly what it is. The
renaming can only be properly understood in the context of the greater meaning.
The students at Forkner Elementary
should know the truth about their old namesake, and the honorable reason for
their new one. That’s known as education.
Tad Weber is The Bee’s opinion
editor.
Read more at:
550 E. Shaw Ave. Fresno, CA 93710