WONDER WOMAN CHALLENGES GENOCIDE DENIAL
by Tom Vartabedian
Published: Friday November 02, 2012
Wilmington High senior Kim O’Dea.
Wilmington, Mass. – Life is full of super heroes in their quest
for justice.
You have your Batmans and Supermans, your Captain Americas and your
Incredible Hulks. On the female side, there’s none quite so impregnable
as the mighty Wonder Woman.
You’ll find her these days roaming the corridors of Wilmington High
School, looking to give Armenians their rightful due as victims of
Turkish brutality during the 1915 Genocide.
Okay, so it’s Spirit Day at the school and students did arrive in
costume. And, yes, the 17-year-old coed did choose to portray the
role of Wonder Woman.
But her peers must have done a double take when they passed her by
sitting in the corridor before a stoic display of Armenian Genocide
signs.
Imagine walking through an American high school and seeing Armenian
Tricolors gracing your walls with Genocide notices blatantly exposed
for all to see.
It’s all part of a world history curriculum at this school on human
rights being taught by Lisa Joy Desberg and Maura Tucker. Armenian
Genocide recognition — or lack of it — is one of history’s most
tainted observations.
With book in hand from Facing History and Ourselves, O’Dea struck a
conspicuous pose of a vigilante before these signs. They served as
a rather poignant backdrop of Armenian history with striking artwork
showing genocide victims and words of remorse.
One poster showed two Nazi gendarmes addressing a distraught family
with Hitler’s words: “Who, after all, talks now-a-days of the
annihilation of the Armenians.”
Another was a call for affirmative action with the words “Mobilize
and Coordinate,” capturing a more unified approach.
Others bore the words “Stripping the Armenians of their moral rights,”
showing families being violated. And “Genocide — a systematic,
deliberate extermination of a specific group.”
It’s not all classroom orientation, either. The two instructors have
taken their students to Armenian lectures in Boston, attended Joyce
Van Dyke’s production of “Deported — A Dream Play.” In the works is
a visit to the Armenian Heritage Memorial on the Rose Kennedy Greenway,
in conjunction with a visit to the Holocaust Museum in Boston.
They’ve beseeched the Postmaster General to issue a postage stamp
commemorating the Armenian Genocide and have attended other genocide
programs within proximity to better acquaint themselves with Armenian
issues.
In a sense, they’ve turned into activists for the Armenian Cause.
Through the genocide, perhaps they will all become ambassadors for
our martyred nation and accomplish what we’ve been unable to do —
get proper legislation in Washington that will bring some closure to
a 98-year-old debate against recognition.
The idea of a woman escaping turmoil with a bundled child through
the desert was purely visionary for students like O’Dea who never
had an inkling as to the genocide. The Jewish Holocaust remained in
the forefront. So have recent tribulations like Darfur.
But until the Armenian Genocide was introduced as a tangible component
of this curriculum, it never happened in their minds because little
or nothing is portrayed in our world history texts. O’Dea and others
are looking to change the perception, whether it takes a fictitious
costume to gain attention or more of a hands-on approach.
What really sets off an avalanche is when a neighboring school like
Peabody High plans to host a panel discussion on genocide and leaves
out the Armenians. Other beleaguered countries like Cambodia, Rwanda,
Bosnia and the Jews are represented but not us.
Intentional or an oversight one may ask? For decades, Peabody was
among the Merrimack Valley communities hosting regular genocide
commemorations at City Hall. And the late Mayor Peter Torigian was
often taken to task by the local Turkish community for using municipal
grounds to condemn his constituents.
Back and forth they would go in the local press until the matter
passed to the following year. Peter always stuck to his guns when it
came to defending his honor.
We could all turn out and demonstrate as conscientious Armenians. Or
send Wonder Woman to our defense. I can just see O’Dea jump up from the
audience in her red, white and blue costume and fight for our right.
“We’ll be there with our students,” said Desberg. “And when the
opportunity comes, we will mention the Armenians. Students should be
taught true events in history. Everyone should be given the right to
be educated about a defining moment in history that has affected a
world’s population.”
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From: Mihran Keheyian
Subject: Wonder Woman challenges genocide denial
Wonder Woman challenges genocide denial
by Tom Vartabedian
Published: Friday November 02, 2012
Wilmington High senior Kim O’Dea.
Wilmington, Mass. – Life is full of super heroes in their quest for justice.
You have your Batmans and Supermans, your Captain Americas and your
Incredible Hulks. On the female side, there’s none quite so
impregnable as the mighty Wonder Woman.
You’ll find her these days roaming the corridors of Wilmington High
School, looking to give Armenians their rightful due as victims of
Turkish brutality during the 1915 Genocide.
Okay, so it’s Spirit Day at the school and students did arrive in
costume. And, yes, the 17-year-old coed did choose to portray the role
of Wonder Woman.
But her peers must have done a double take when they passed her by
sitting in the corridor before a stoic display of Armenian Genocide
signs.
Imagine walking through an American high school and seeing Armenian
Tricolors gracing your walls with Genocide notices blatantly exposed
for all to see.
It’s all part of a world history curriculum at this school on human
rights being taught by Lisa Joy Desberg and Maura Tucker. Armenian
Genocide recognition — or lack of it — is one of history’s most
tainted observations.
With book in hand from Facing History and Ourselves, O’Dea struck a
conspicuous pose of a vigilante before these signs. They served as a
rather poignant backdrop of Armenian history with striking artwork
showing genocide victims and words of remorse.
One poster showed two Nazi gendarmes addressing a distraught family
with Hitler’s words: “Who, after all, talks now-a-days of the
annihilation of the Armenians.”
Another was a call for affirmative action with the words “Mobilize and
Coordinate,” capturing a more unified approach.
Others bore the words “Stripping the Armenians of their moral rights,”
showing families being violated. And “Genocide — a systematic,
deliberate extermination of a specific group.”
It’s not all classroom orientation, either. The two instructors have
taken their students to Armenian lectures in Boston, attended Joyce
Van Dyke’s production of “Deported — A Dream Play.” In the works is
a visit to the Armenian Heritage Memorial on the Rose Kennedy
Greenway, in conjunction with a visit to the Holocaust Museum in
Boston.
They’ve beseeched the Postmaster General to issue a postage stamp
commemorating the Armenian Genocide and have attended other genocide
programs within proximity to better acquaint themselves with Armenian
issues.
In a sense, they’ve turned into activists for the Armenian Cause.
Through the genocide, perhaps they will all become ambassadors for our
martyred nation and accomplish what we’ve been unable to do — get
proper legislation in Washington that will bring some closure to a
98-year-old debate against recognition.
The idea of a woman escaping turmoil with a bundled child through the
desert was purely visionary for students like O’Dea who never had an
inkling as to the genocide. The Jewish Holocaust remained in the
forefront. So have recent tribulations like Darfur.
But until the Armenian Genocide was introduced as a tangible component
of this curriculum, it never happened in their minds because little or
nothing is portrayed in our world history texts. O’Dea and others are
looking to change the perception, whether it takes a fictitious
costume to gain attention or more of a hands-on approach.
What really sets off an avalanche is when a neighboring school like
Peabody High plans to host a panel discussion on genocide and leaves
out the Armenians. Other beleaguered countries like Cambodia, Rwanda,
Bosnia and the Jews are represented but not us.
Intentional or an oversight one may ask? For decades, Peabody was
among the Merrimack Valley communities hosting regular genocide
commemorations at City Hall. And the late Mayor Peter Torigian was
often taken to task by the local Turkish community for using municipal
grounds to condemn his constituents.
Back and forth they would go in the local press until the matter
passed to the following year. Peter always stuck to his guns when it
came to defending his honor.
We could all turn out and demonstrate as conscientious Armenians. Or
send Wonder Woman to our defense. I can just see O’Dea jump up from
the audience in her red, white and blue costume and fight for our
right.
“We’ll be there with our students,” said Desberg. “And when the
opportunity comes, we will mention the Armenians. Students should be
taught true events in history. Everyone should be given the right to
be educated about a defining moment in history that has affected a
world’s population.”