Mayor Aaron Stephens Explains East Lansing Resolution Remembering Armenian Genocide
The Armenian genocide involved the mass murder of an estimated one million ethnic Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I. And, although Armenians and human rights groups have been calling for recognition of this ethnic-cleansing atrocity for decades, it wasn’t until just a few weeks ago – on April 24, 2021 – that President Biden became the first sitting U.S. president to formally call it a genocide.
Just a short time before that, on April 13, the City Council of East Lansing passed a resolution acknowledging the genocide and recognizing April 24 as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. The request to recognize the day was brought to Mayor Aaron Stephens by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), an Armenian advocacy group.
Stephens explained to ELi that, when he received the request, he felt that this was a crucial step for the City of East Lansing to take. So, he wrote up a resolution using language provided by the ANCA. The Council passed it unanimously on the April 13 consent agenda without discussion.
“This was an awful occurrence that has not been recognized throughout our country, and as Armenians sometimes are still persecuted to this day, what we really need to do is at least recognize what the past has been for these people that have been displaced, persecuted, and killed because of who they are,” Stephens told ELi.
Stephens is of Armenian heritage and has joined previous political action to defend the rights of Armenians, as the State News has reported.
According to Stephens, although the genocide took place far from East Lansing, the repercussions are global. He believes the resolution not only recognizes the atrocities that occurred, but also respects and recognizes East Lansing residents who are Armenian and who have historically been invalidated.
“I think it’s important that Armenian residents know where our City stands on this issue,” Stephens said. “[I think that] us not recognizing that for years and years left a lot of Armenian citizens in the United States with the feeling that the U.S. was not necessarily complicit, but was okay with brushing it aside. It’s important that countries that have significant influence over the rest of the world, like the United States, recognize this as something that occurred and something that is not acceptable, and that it should never happen again.”
Stephens hopes that by acknowledging the genocide and continuing to acknowledge other such atrocities and histories of discrimination and persecution, the City is moving a step in the right direction and can address current cases of oppression. He also hopes that by educating ourselves, we can avoid something like this from happening again.
“It’s extremely important that this is done because we absolutely have to learn from our history, or we are doomed to repeat it,” Stephens said. “It’s important to recognize where we went wrong so that we can do things for the future that hopefully are in a better light. To recognize this in the City of East Lansing is a wonderful thing, but to have that recognition countrywide now is certainly a step in the right direction. And I hope that that trend continues over the next many, many years.”