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'Grandma's Tattoos': Armenian Reflection And Remembrance

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  • 'Grandma's Tattoos': Armenian Reflection And Remembrance

    'GRANDMA'S TATTOOS': ARMENIAN REFLECTION AND REMEMBRANCE

    PCC Courier, Pasadena, CA
    April 30 2014

    Monique LeBleu

    A 104 year old woman-clutching close her prayer beads for
    comfort-recalls a night of her early childhood that was filled
    with rifle fire, where families were attacked, parents murdered,
    homes looted, and the "good-looking" daughters taken by the "fire and
    thunder gangs" to "rape them or do whatever they wanted to with them",
    while the authorities of the time did nothing.

    "They took my mother. They killed my father," the woman says. She
    cries and rocks herself softly, because she can't forget.

    Women and girls were taken later in deportation caravans, where their
    fates varied from prostitution, forced concubinage, slavery or death.

    If they lived, their enslavers had them marked for all to know-shaming
    them for life.

    Beginning a week of city-wide events commemorating the date of
    the Armenian Genocide, PCC's Armenian Student Organization brought
    students, family and friends together on April 22 to screen Suzanne
    Khardalian's film, "Grandma's Tattoos."

    The event, held in the Wi-Fi Lounge next to the Cross Cultural Center
    in the CC building, was designed to create an open forum of discussion
    about the "cycle of genocide" as well as inform on the various rallying
    events leading up to the Apr. 24 date that marks the Armenian Genocide
    99 years ago.

    The communities' activism seeks the recognition of the genocide by
    the Turkish government and is also designed to empower, support and
    encourage activism within the Armenian community and for all who feel
    the results of historically equally suppressive violent actions.

    "'Cycle of genocide' is a term used to illustrate the repercussions
    of not recognizing genocide," explained Nareen Manoukian, a PCC
    English professor with several students attending the event. "The
    Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the 20th century and it's
    unrecognized still."

    The documentary, "Grandma's Tattoos," depicts the rippling effect
    that the genocide has had on the young Armenian women of the time
    who were enslaved by their captors.

    Aside from the 1.5 million people killed in the genocide, many died as
    a result of being "driven out of their homeland [and] into the deserts
    of Syria and Iraq" where "thousands of young women were abducted to
    become the concubines Turks, Kurds, and Arabs," according to the film.

    "There was a lot of sexual violence too, and there was a lot of shame
    associated with that, so [the survivors] were not comfortable talking
    about that," said Manoukian. "The women in the video had their faces
    tattooed because they were trapped and enslaved in harems."

    Manoukian's own family had experiences that were relayed by surviving
    family members. She explained why there was an almost 50 year lull
    prior to the community response that has occurred within the last
    half-century.

    "About the first 50 years following the genocide, there was a cultural
    P.T.S.D. that occurred," said Manoukian. "The immediate survivors-they
    weren't the descendants of the survivors-they were completely
    shell-shocked. They didn't know how to respond to what had happened."

    Senior Hykaz Paronian, mechanical engineering, collaborated with
    students, faculty and the Cross Cultural Center to organize and host
    the event for his last year, in order to provide the award-winning
    film and have a guest speaker from the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF),
    PCC alumnus Caspar Jivalagian, for PCC's own commemorative event.

    "We are gathered here tonight to not only mourn the loss the 1.5
    million Armenians that we lost to the Armenian Genocide," said
    Paronian. "We are here to be educated about the past in order to move
    forward from racism, hate and intolerance."

    Jivalagian spoke on behalf of AYF and their short film, "Revolution
    in Progress." Fueled by the experiences relayed to him by his own
    surviving family members, he spoke passionately on what it takes to
    be an activist and on the AYF's upcoming annual event.

    "This year we decided to do a 24-hour protest," Jivalagian said.

    "There will be a reflection on each date of a genocide, which is not
    limited to the Armenian Genocide, but all the genocides of the 20th
    and 21st century."

    Clear feelings were stressed on how critical this recognition is to
    the Armenian people.

    "We are at the 99-year mark now," said Manoukian. "I feel like it's
    a crucial time. That if it hasn't be recognized thus far, this next
    year is the most crucial point."

    http://www.pcccourier.com/2014/04/30/genocide/

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