i've thought long and hard about what to say for today, the 105th anniversary of the #ArmenianGenocide as we, the armenians who are alive today, exist in this age of COVID-19.
systematic oppression, racism, and disregard for life are all the same.
they just wear different masks.

a little history for odar followers: april 24th, 1915 (red sunday) marks when, at the command of the ottoman empire's interior minister, ~250 armenian nobles, political figures, and other community leaders were imprisoned in constantinople.
by may's end, most of them were dead.

the genocide wasn't just limited to armenians: it included assyrians, greeks, and any other ethnic minorities within the ottoman empire deemed "enemies of the state" by the wave of horrid nationalism spewed by the young turks. 1.5 million are estimated to have died until 1923.

i'm not gonna post pictures here. you can google the atrocities committed in the first blueprint for organized ethnic cleansing. they included nailing men to crosses, hangings, prisons-turned-death-camps, starvation, and forcing families into death marches into the syrian desert.

make no mistake: this shit was built up for /years/. preambling 1915's april 24th, armenians under the ottomans' rule endured such events like the hamidian massacres, labor rights struggles, and a weakened government that allowed itself to be taken over by right-wing extremists.

in the mardikians, some of them made it. an uncle of mine, george mardikian, was able to flee, eventually nestling into the SF bay area and opening a restaurant.
another relative of mine, krikor amirian, became an armenian freedom fighter.
i wouldn't be here if not for these men.

yet despite them, sometimes i struggle connecting back to my family. i didn't know the full ramifications from the genocide until i was 16.
neither did they take me being outed all too well.
and since those enlightenments, it's been a struggle defending my own truth and new life.

cw hanging //

i kept this as a reminder. there's other vile shit i won't post. it isn't limited to the past; it's merely taken on a new face. while it may change and age, history is a flat circle. ignorance of reality will always be a systematic influence we must resist.

because as we give remembrance, grieve the losses, and hold traditions close, there must also be a struggle to protect new life. death haunts armenian culture, but the joy we have in celebrating the life we /do/ have is a beautifully inspiring contrast.
and we must defend that.

b/c what are we seeing in the US? an inept government, fueled by horrid nationalism, right-wing extremism: spreading misinformation & allowing people to die?
while it's not the EXACT same ofc, their cores still stink 100+ years later of a bigoted, malicious allowance of death.

almost 10 days ago, it's been reported that, unfortunately, armenians are experiencing a high infection rate of COVID-19 in the LA area.
take care of yourselves, but forget not the powers that have allowed this pandemic to grow to this size and proportion. https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/updated-what-we-know-about-l-a-countys-covid-19-cases/

i urge those who observe this day to not only mourn those and that which we lost, but to cherish the life we /do/ have, and hold it close. protect it.
we're still here. living our best lives, continuing to exist, and we will continue to be here, despite persecution or pandemics.

there's a saying that i'm thankful to see tweeted near every day, made by one anthony oliveira.
"be brave enough to be kind."
because it reminds me of the everlasting william saroyan quote about the armenian people.
stay strong, y'all. and endure.