The Forgotten Genocide

To prevent genocides from occurring in the future, we must first acknowledge previous genocides that have plagued the course of human history. As a justification of his murders during the Jewish Holocaust, Adolf Hitler proclaimed, “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?” Nearly one hundred years later, the United States fails to recognize the murders of 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children between 1915 and 1923 as genocide. The reason behind America’s failure to recognize this atrocity is because of a precious military base located in the country that perpetrated and continuously denies the killings, Turkey. Even though the U.S. is such a progressive country, political interests triumph human rights in many situations such as this. Before Barrack Obama became president of the United States, he promised that he would officially recognize the Armenian Genocide. His term is almost up and he has yet to address the issue. This April 24th marks the 97th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and like always Armenians will band together and protest for recognition and justice. Nearly all the survivors of the Armenian Genocide are now dead, all of which have died with no sense of closure. As a descendant of victims of genocide, I urge human beings to always rise up and prevent genocides from occurring once again by addressing these human rights issues. Indifference can be very lethal in times of need.