Committee still gathering information
As a volunteer group within our community, the Lexington No Place For Hate (LNPFH) Steering Committee is in the process of formulating a recommendation to the Board of Selectmen concerning our association with New England Region of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
To clarify, our mission is to work with town citizens and employees to create a community-based shared vision for the town as a prejudice- and bias-free community where tolerance is the norm, where each individual is protected and respected for his/her unique characteristics, and respect and civility govern public discourse. We desire to recognize and celebrate diversity; to challenge bigotry, racism, discrimination, hate crimes, civil rights violations, and acts of bias; and to build inter-group understanding and respect.
As to our ongoing relationship with ADL, we are in the process of gathering information, which has so far included several meetings with members of the Armenian-American community, both informally and formally, as well as staff members of New England Region of the Anti-Defamation League, and by reading content and opinion in the public domain. We hope to bring more voices to this unfolding issue. We feel all views will serve us well in our responsibility to make an informed recommendation to the Board of Selectmen.
As stated publicly at the Board of Selectmen Meeting Sept. 24, the LNPFH Steering Committee recognizes the Armenian Genocide of the early 20th Century as one of the world's greatest atrocities.
Another issue on which everyone generally seems to agree is the recognition of the good and important work of the LNPFH Steering Committee. Consistent with our overall mission, we continue to listen carefully to the several voices on this issue, and we are working to gather information from our neighbors and friends in the community prior to making a final recommendation to the BOS.
We also recognize that what is at risk is Lexington's positive advancements to gain fuller knowledge and appreciation for others' backgrounds and views, and the progressive improvement of our environment over the past several years toward a community that has "no place for hate."
Judith Brain, Hathaway Road
Mary Haskell, Trotting Horse Drive
Larry Link, Massachusetts Avenue
Charlie Martin, Thoreau Road
Jill Smilow, Fletcher Avenue
(Members, Lexington No Place for Hate Steering Committee)
Do not delay ADL decision
On Monday, Sept. 24 I attended the Board of Selectmen's meeting. The board had decided up front it would not be making any decisions about its ties with the Anti-defamation League.
It is understandable that such issues are taken seriously and deliberated. What I do not understand is how the selectmen listened to the Armenian and Jewish voices of their residents and remained utterly apathetic at this great discrimination aimed at the Armenians by the Anti-Defamation League.
I am from Watertown. I am also from Belmont, Arlington and Newton. I used to believe I was from Lexington, having family and friends there, being part of a greater community that shares a set of common values.
One such value is standing up against injustice.
The Lexington board has failed to participate in the common value of our greater community by failing to stand up for the injustice done to its residents.
Genocide is a serious crime against humanity. Denial of genocide is a serious crime against what we know as civilization. Remaining apathetic is a crime of conscience.
Shame on Lexington town councilors for being so biased and apathetic.
Narini Badalian
Watertown
Selectmen faced with hard task
Editor's note: The following letter was written to the Lexington Board of Selectmen.
I am pleased at your beginning efforts of opening up your busy schedules to listen to relevant topics regarding the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) sponsorship of a town-supported program called No Place for Hate, brought to your immediate attention by American Armenians and other concerned citizens who are no longer comfortable with the status quo.
I would like to comment and bring to your attention that during the open meeting held last week, talk was directed to money matters and how the No Place for Hate program will suffer if ADL no longer acquaints itself with it. Yes, distribution of monies does matter and the board should most definitely be concerned.
Well, I'm sure my grandparents would not know whether they should cry or laugh at such ridiculous concerns. My grandmother didn't seem to mind handing over a ruby, gold coin and a few small diamonds for a cup of milk and a sip of water for her first-born son from a stationed Turkish soldier who obviously was a very generous man. God only knows what else she had to do to get herself, her husband and two infants alive and well into Syria.
I'm sure it was challenging for my grandparents to leave behind their 16-room stone mansion in Ottoman Aintab, several textile factories and mills, store fronts, and large quantities of land in the watchful eyes of their loving neighbors. It seems the world is not concerned for the stolen properties or the well-being of my grandparents' heirs and wishes this subject just disappears. I would strongly agree, there are some money concerns.
Ironically, if my grandparents were not evicted from their home on their homeland, I then consequently would have most likely been born into the family wealth and prominent Ottoman textile business as one of their 20-plus grandchildren possibly gallivanting about on summer excursions to the island of Aghtamar. We could hypothetically argue that my fathers parents may say that I, a current Lexington resident for over 24 years, am living in utter poverty. Perhaps you should strongly consider not speaking of money matters especially in front of last week's crowd.
I hope you and your honorable board present your answers and conclusions without succumbing to international pressures. You are faced with a difficult task. Please do not outsource this town's decision-making process. Let's work toward an obvious conclusion and excellent outcome that promotes No Time For Denial.
Nairi Havan
Concord Avenue
Decide now on ADL involvement
The Board of Selectmen needs to decide expeditiously to sever Lexington's ties with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). While the Board of Selectmen is engaging in process and discussions, Abraham Foxman and the ADL are actively doing harm. Each day that the decision is delayed, the Lexington community is associated with that
harm.
This week, Mr. Foxman, along with representatives from other Jewish organizations, met with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erodgan, who told them Armenian "genocide allegations had no basis and that they were not supported by any scientific or historical document … [and] Turkey expected the Jewish community in the U.S. to continue their
support, as it has done to date."
Thus, on Wednesday, Sept. 26, Mr. Foxman, working once more to prevent discussion of the Armenian Genocide in the U.S. Congress, told reporters that the Armenian Genocide "should not be debated at the U.S. Congress or the French National Assembly … U.S. congressmen are not historians. Therefore, they cannot judge what happened in
history."
I find these words ironic — indeed hypocritical — given the more than 600 resolutions on the Holocaust proclaimed by Congress. Even more egregious, Mr. Foxman is endeavoring to sow doubt about the already established facts of the Armenian Genocide, saying, "he hoped Armenians would somehow respond to calls from Turkey to set up a joint commission of academics to investigate what happened in the past." This is genocide denial in its most insidious form. According to the ADL's own Web page: The denier strategy is simple and familiar. They distort, even fabricate, history and then broadcast their creations. On the surface, Holocaust deniers portray themselves as individuals and groups engaged in a legitimate, dispassionate quest for historical
knowledge and "truth." Holocaust deniers seek to plant seeds of questioning and doubt about the Holocaust in their mass audiences.
Mr. Foxman knows very well that Turkish calls for joint commissions are ludicrous given that scores of Turkish historians, scholars, and writers have been charged under the country's notorious Article 301 of the penal code for "denigrating Turkishness" when they have written about the Armenian Genocide.
Further, Mr. Foxman cynically proposes this "scholarly examination" with the knowledge that such calls are nothing more than propaganda. The ADL not only continues to define the Armenian Genocide in a way that fails to meet the international legal definition of genocide, but it is actively aiding the Turkish government in its genocide denial by
advocating scholarly examination to create doubt about settled history — a tactic used by global warming deniers, tobacco companies, and intelligent-design advocates. Further, they continue to lobby against consideration and passage of the Congressional resolutions to affirm the Armenian Genocide.
Lexington should not delay a decision to cut ties with the ADL.
Michael Kouchakdjian
Idylwilde Road
Source: Lexington Minuteman
Lexington Minuteman Letters to the Editor: Published October 4 2007
