Middlesex Sheriff Peter Koutoujian reflects on ancestors in April 24 statement

For 106 years the Armenian community has carried a collective anguish. The historic failure to recognize the Armenian Genocide stood as a blemish on America’s moral leadership and a painful erasure of what our families suffered. The violence perpetrated in Artsakh just months ago was a chilling reminder that this all could happen again. Yet it never deterred us. Every April, for 106 years, we gathered in commemorations around the world – the living embodiments of William Saroyan’s words. We remembered our dead. We prayed and read aloud the names of family members who were separated, tortured and brutally murdered. We spoke about the survivors who scattered across the globe and built incredible communities with thriving civic, cultural, commercial and spiritual life. Brave souls like my grandparents who fled Marash during the Genocide. They spent years apart in Syria and France before reuniting in Massachusetts with the help of the American Red Cross. They had the indomitable souls of Armenians and the patriotic pride of new Americans. Like many of you, I have spent decades advocating for this cause because of them. I wanted their pain, their struggle, and their success to be validated through formal recognition of the Genocide. Sometimes it was hard not to get disheartened. Yet in the past year – difficult in so many of its own ways – I saw hope in our cause. Through President Biden’s campaign, his transition, and his administration, I became close with a number of public servants who are now senior White House officials. When I discussed recognition of the genocide with them, they understood that this was not just an “Armenian issue,” but an American one. They saw the pain of our people and embraced formal recognition as a fundamental question of justice. It gave me not only pride but great hope for this country. Today President Biden said what we have waited over a century to hear. He acknowledged this genocide and the generational trauma associated with its minimization. He showed respect and empathy for the experience of my grandparents and all our families. That is something that should make Americans of every ethnicity proud. God bless our martyrs. God bless Artsakh. God bless Armenia. And God bless the United States of America. —Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian

Middlesex Sheriff Peter Koutoujian reflects on ancestors in April 24 statement

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