LOS ANGELES — Schools were closed Wednesday in the Los Angeles and Glendale unified school districts to commemorate Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, marking the 109th anniversary of the start of events widely viewed by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.
The LAUSD Board of Education adopted a policy in 2020 to close schools on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. Students and teachers in the Glendale Unified School District have been given the day off on April 24 since the 2013- 14 school year.
A bill establishing Genocide Remembrance Day as a state holiday to be observed on April 24 and permitting public schools and community colleges to close in observance of the holiday was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2022.
"Genocide commemoration is more than a history lesson. It is a powerful tool to engage people across generations in the sanctity of human rights, the enormity of crimes, and how to prevent future atrocities," Newsom wrote in his signing message for AB 1801 by then-Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian, D-North Hollywood.
A protest was scheduled for noon outside the Turkish Consulate General in Beverly Hills. The protest is "dedicated to both demanding proper recognition, reparations, and restitution of the 1.5 million lives lost and land stolen during the 1915 Armenian Genocide, and highlighting how the delayed recognition, reparations, and restitution has led to the continuation of the vicious cycle of genocide committed against Armenians with the recent 2023 genocide in Artsakh," according to a statement from Armenian Youth Federation, which is organizing the protest.
A commemoration of the Armenian genocide will begin at 10 a.m. at the Montebello Armenian Genocide Monument. It will include a speech by human rights attorney Karnig Kerkonian and the placement of flowers.
An Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day prayer and tribute service will begin at 12:30 p.m. at Adventist Health Glendale. Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, primate of the Western Diocese Armenian Church of North America, will take part. The service will also feature testimonials and personal accounts of Adventist Health Glendale families affected by the deaths.
There will be an event marking the 109th anniversary of the start of the Armenian Genocide at Glendale City Hall at 4:30 p.m. Speakers include Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, the vice chair of the Congressional Armenian Caucus.
The Los Angeles area is home to the largest population of Armenians in the world outside of Armenia itself.
On April 24, 1915, Ottoman authorities arrested Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople during World War I, leading to an estimated 1.5 million people being killed.
Turkey denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated, and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.
"On this solemn anniversary, as we pause to remember the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide, we also reflect on the resilience of those who survived, and the perseverance of their children and grandchildren, who built new lives in the United States and around the world, speak the beautiful Armenian language, and enrich our nation with the Armenian culture and heritage," Schiff said in a statement.
"Armenians refused to let the Genocide define their lives or to limit their future potential. Instead, they showed the world that Armenians could face the future with courage, knowing that they have already overcome the worst atrocities of the past."