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Calif. Assembly Adopts Measure Mandating Genocide Education In Publi

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  • Calif. Assembly Adopts Measure Mandating Genocide Education In Publi

    CALIF. ASSEMBLY ADOPTS MEASURE MANDATING GENOCIDE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

    Thursday, May 29th, 2014

    Assemblymembers Adrin Nazarian (right) and Khatcho Achadjian

    SACRAMENTO--On Wednesday, May 28, the California State Assembly
    unanimously passed the Armenian Genocide Education Act (AB 1915)
    with a sweeping vote of 77-0, requiring the inclusion of the Armenian
    Genocide in the list of studied subject areas for the adopted courses
    of study in Social Science for 7-12 reported the Armenian National
    Committee of America Western Region.

    AB 1915, which received unanimous support in the California State
    Assembly Appropriation Committee just last week as well as in the
    California State Assembly Education Committee in early April has now
    moved to the Calif. Senate Rules Committee for consideration.

    "This landslide victory is yet another testament of what grassroots in
    action can achieve. The ANCA WR applauds the California State Assembly
    for taking such a strong stance on this critical education bill and
    Assemblymembers Nazarian and Achadjian for their leadership," stated
    Elen Asatryan, Executive Director of the ANCA-WR. "We look forward
    to continuing our work alongside our elected officials on the senate
    side and our grassroots to ensure that future generations learn about
    the atrocities that took place during the Armenian Genocide of 1915,"
    added Asatryan.

    In his introductory remarks, lead author of AB 1915 Assemblymember
    Adrin Nazarian, discussed the importance of the bill and stated "It
    is imperative that the Armenian Genocide be added into the teaching of
    human rights issues because it set the stage for subsequent genocides
    of the 20th century,"while Principal Co-Author Assemblymember Katcho
    Achadjian noted "We cannot change what has happened in the past,
    but we can choose how we move forward. This bill represent a step
    forward in the healing process. AB 1915 will increase awareness of
    the Armenian Genocide among our youth in hopes that such tragic acts
    will not repeat themselves."

    Specifically, AB 1915: 1. Requires each school district to include
    instruction on the inhumanity of the Armenian Genocide as a part of
    its social science course of study in grades 7 through 12, inclusive.

    2. Encourages the California Department of Education to incorporate
    into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources for
    teacher use those materials developed by publishers of nonfiction,
    trade books, and primary sources, or other public or private
    organizations, that are age-appropriate and consistent with the subject
    frameworks on history and social science that deal with the Armenian,
    Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan Genocides.

    3. Encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and
    witness testimony into the teaching of the Holocaust, and Genocide,
    including, but not limited to, the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur,
    and Rwandan Genocides.

    4. Encourages all state and local professional development activities
    to provide teachers with content background and resources to assist
    in teaching about the Armenian Genocide.

    5. Requires the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC), when the
    history-social science curriculum is revised as required by law,
    to consider including the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan
    genocides in the history-social science curriculum framework.

    6. Defines the Armenian Genocide as "the torture, starvation, and
    murder of 1,500,000 Armenians, which included death marches into the
    Syrian desert, by the rulers of the Ottoman Turkish Empire and exile
    of more than 500,000 innocent people during the period from 1915 to
    1923, inclusive.

    Last week, ANCA Western Region Executive Director Elen Asatryan
    submitted a strongly worded letter in support of AB 1915 on behalf
    of the organization noting "Despite the existence of the provision
    within the framework (pursuant to AB 1273 which was enacted in 1985),
    the Armenian Genocide is not taught in the overwhelming majority of
    our public schools. The State Assembly recently passed AB 659 which
    encourages inclusion of oral history components in the instruction of
    human rights issues, including the Armenian Genocide. This law is a
    step in the right direction, but not enough to achieve the objective
    of instruction across all public schools across the state. What is
    necessary is enactment of AB 1915 which would mandate such instruction
    while providing teachers with the tools that they need".

    In the weeks leading up to State Assembly consideration of the measure,
    the ANCA Western Region worked closely with legislators to ensure
    they learned of the broad, enthusiastic support for the measure,
    especially during the organization's 2014 Advocacy Day when over
    350 activists from California including a group of students from San
    Marino High School who have taken up the Genocide Education as their
    senior project, met with over 70 California legislators.

    On Wednesday April 9th, ANCA Western Region Education Committee Chair
    Alice Petrossian and ANCA Western Region Education Committee Executive
    Member and writer Kay Mouradian testified in front of the California
    State Assembly Education Committee in support of the bill along with
    joint author of AB 1915 Assemblymember Katcho Achadjian. Assembly
    Education Committee members, Chair Joan Buchanan and Assemblymember
    Rocky J. Chavez offered supportive remarks prior to its unanimous
    passed.

    Earlier this year, the State Assembly Education and Appropriations
    Committees unanimously adopted AB 659, another bill introduced by
    Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian. The bill, which is on its way to the
    California State Senate, encourages schools to use oral histories when
    teaching about the Armenian Genocide and other acts against humanity.

    AB 659 set the stage for the presentation of AB 1915.

    Once adopted by the State Senate and signed into law by the Governor,
    AB 1915 would codify the Armenian Genocide into the curriculum of
    7th to 12th grade Social Science and History classes. It would also
    recommend publication about the Armenian Genocide and other genocides
    including Cambodia, Rwanda and Darfur in instructional materials
    provided to instructors about crimes against humanity.

    Currently, California is one of 11 states, including Georgia, Illinois,
    Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode
    Island, and Virginia, which have the Armenian Genocide included
    in their curriculum. The California Model Curriculum developed
    by the Department of Education, includes the Armenian Genocide as
    a recommended topic to teach. However, schools aren't required to
    follow this Model Curriculum.

    Co-authors of AB 1915 on the Assembly side include Assembly Members
    Ammiano, Ian Calderon, Fox, Gatto, Hall, Holden, Nestande, Patterson,
    and Wilk. Co-authors on the Senate side include Senators Berryhill,
    Lara, Vidak, and Yee.

    Legislators who voted in support of the bill included Achadjian, Alejo,
    Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford,
    Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chavez, Chesbro, Conway,
    Cooley, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong,
    Fox, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell,
    Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernandez, Holden, Jones,
    Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor,
    Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen,
    Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Quirk-Silva,
    Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner,
    Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins

    The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region is the
    largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots advocacy
    organization in the Western United States. Working in coordination
    with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the
    Western United States and affiliated organizations around the country,
    the ANCA-WR advances the concerns of the Armenian American community
    on a broad range of issues.

    http://asbarez.com/123540/calif-assembly-adopts-measure-mandating-genocide-education-in-public-schools/

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