I’ve been familiar with the term, “Genocide,” since a very young age, long before any of my friends ever heard it. As a kid, I was made aware of some of the most vile acts and horrific atrocities that humans could ever inflict upon each other. I also knew that my existence and identity were only made possible because my great grandparents were of the few fortunate ones to escape the carnage of genocide, and not by any simple means. As a proud descendant of Armenians, whenever I heard the term “Genocide” throughout my life it always rang certain bells in my mind, and not the kind that brings holiday cheer. Quite the contrary, it’s a signal that the worst of the worst is happening for there is no greater evil that can transpire between humans.
Last year, the alarm sounded that my country - the country in which my great grandparents found refuge and were able to build a foundation for their future descendants to thrive - was now supporting, funding, and defending genocidal activity by the Israeli government against Palestinians in Gaza. As I listened, read about and watched events unfold, I felt a mix of guilt and shame. Part of it was survivor’s guilt: I felt I owed it to my ancestors - the friends and family of my great grandparents who were not fortunate enough to escape - to fight against genocidal activity anywhere on Earth. There is no justification for it, plain and simple. That feeling, however, was intertwined with something of an American paradox: the irony of living in the most free and prosperous nation on Earth while the enormity, complexity and power structures of such prosperity leaves me feeling helpless and insignificant.
So I did what I could in the weeks following the horrific massacre of Israelis by Hamas on October 7th - I listened to many different points of view of what was happening while revisited my family’s history to seek more knowledge about the Armenian Genocide that was carried out by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire during WWI. I had read many scholars referring to this historic event as the “foundation” or “blueprint” for genocide in the 20th century, and I was curious what parallels I would find. I found a lot! First was The Defense of Van. While not nearly as egregious as the horrible event carried out by a similarly oppressed people on October 7th, many historians view The Defense of Van as an armed resistance instigated by the Ottoman government to create what they would refered to as a rebellion (the word for terrorism in 1915). This “rebellion” gave them just what they needed to begin justifying the deportation and slaughter of Armenians: the beginnings of genocide. As I was learning and observing these parallels, I wrote Congress multiple times per week, informing them of my family’s history and my perspective on things. I didn’t expect much of a response and didn’t get any but I felt I was at least doing something. That is, until a few more weeks passed and I was hearing our leaders - every single one of them on all sides of the political aisle - defend the actions of the Israeli government as they slaughtered children in great numbers, bombed universities and hospitals to rubble, and displaced an entire population moving them to “safe” areas that then became targets. In the same breadth, they would accuse anyone who spoke out against these actions as radical and anti-semitic.
As protests were squashed and arrests were made, a critical moment for me was hearing leaders and influencers claiming that protesters on university campuses (some notably Ivy League) had been radicalized by Hamas. In other words, our brightest/smartest young adults were somehow brainwashed over the internet by a terrorist group on the other side of the planet because they were enacting their first amendment right to speak out against the mass killing of innocent civilians, many of whom were children. For me, that’s when things quit being rational or coherent, especially after listening to countless interviews with protestors, including those from Jewish groups, speak of their desire for a Palestinian state that can exist alongside Israel. Having not heard one protestor say anything anti-semitic but rather express their frustrations with the Israeli government’s war crimes, it was beginning to seem like those making accusations of radicalization were the ones who had been radicalized.
Then, similar to the Armenian Genocide, intellectuals were targeted. During the first few months of the war, I would listen to podcasts to hear interviews with journalists, doctors, and professors who were on the ground in Gaza, speaking about what they were witnessing. Within weeks of hearing them speak, those same podcasts would be announcing their deaths and the deaths of their family members, often including children. And while my Genocide alarm bells were ringing incessantly, our leaders and mainstream media seemed to be purposely ignoring it.
I now realized that this is what it’s like to be part of a nation or group that is committing genocide. The propaganda is overwhelming and those who choose to speak out are silenced, punished, and criticized. It’s a mafia-like system followed by a mob mentality.
So here we are: Over 60,000 Palestinians have perished, around 18,500 of whom are CHILDREN! (The Turks killed Armenian children with no remorse), while 90% of the population in Gaza has been displaced. Homes, mosques, hospitals, universities: GONE! And if you’ve studied genocides you know that the damage revealed after it’s over is always much greater due to the difficulty of obtaining accurate assessments during the chaos of war. Genocide has this in its favor. That’s why it is important to note that genocide is defined by the intention behind the killing, not by the number of deaths. If it were defined by the number of deaths, the term could not serve any purpose of alarming the world of mass murder, until it is too late.
It was over six months ago that warnings first came of mass starvation and I was urging my representatives to act before it was too late. Today we’re beginning to receive daily reports of death from starvation. The starvation death toll reported by the UN as of August 12, 2025 was 227, of which 103 were children. The majority of these have occurred within the past few weeks. If something doesn’t change, these numbers will skyrocket. Death by starvation is the easiest way to kill huge swaths of a population because it demands little to no military intervention and frees up resources for more propaganda. Some claim that the majority of the 1.2-1.5 million deaths that occurred during the Armenian Genocide were caused by starvation. Caravans of Armenians were marched far into the deserts of Syria to be left there to starve and die. In fact, this was a favored tactic of the Turkish government because they could disguise murder as deportation.
The mass murder in Gaza shows no sign of stopping as the Israeli government is now planning to move in and officially occupy the territory. We are, however, no longer watching from the sidelines pressuring our government to intervene in a foreign conflict. We are now the ones committing genocide. Just as the Armenian Genocide could not have been carried out to such great proportion without the support of Germany, Israel cannot continue it’s genocidal campaign without the support of the U.S. Many people agree that withdrawal of U.S. support is the only thing that will put an end to the carnage. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen because our system is broken. We can protest, we can write letters or call our elected officials and these things are important, but as long as there is big money in politics, they will do little to effect long-term change. Our leaders will continue to do the bidding of lobbyists, corporations, and billionaires while we are left in the dark, suspiciously wondering what is happening behind closed doors as our country continues to defy everything we thought it stood for.
We must start speaking the truth about the silent coup that took place in this country in 2010 - one which had been carefully planned for decades - when the Supreme Court decided that corporations shall be treated as individual citizens when it comes to free speech, and used this as a basis for dismantling restrictions on their political spending. It’s not conspiracy theory, it’s fact and it’s law. Several books have been written about it and some bold leaders are beginning to speak out. We, the people, cannot reclaim this democracy as ours until this law is overturned. If we don’t want our country to be responsible for slaughtering, torturing, or oppressing millions of people, this law which permits unlimited campaign contributions from corporations, needs to be overturned. If you’re going to protest something, protest this! Yes, there are other issues at play and corruption has existed in our government long before 2010. However, this is the starting point. Otherwise no amount of protesting, over any issue, will have the ability to create lasting change.
RESOURCES:
A list of non-fiction, fiction, autobiography, and children’s books about the Armenian Genocide.
Book: Corporations are not People: Reclaiming Democracy from Big Money and Global Corporations.
The Wikipedia page, Citizens United vs. FEC also has a lot of info and resources on it.
Archives of the news show, “Democracy Now,” starting in October 2024, if you want to hear interviews with Palestinians on the ground in Gaza.