Over Five Hundred Community Leaders and Members Expected to Attend and Participate
PASADENA –The Pasadena Armenian Coalition will host a community-wide event on April 21 to commemorate thee 109th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The event will be held at 3 p.m. at the Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Monument and will pay tribute to the enduring strength and resiliency of survivors of the 1915 Armenian Genocide while honoring the memory of the over 1. 5 Million innocent victims who mercilessly lost their lives 109 years ago.
This year’s theme is “Resilience in the Face of Genocide — Then and Now.” The aim of the event is to draw the public’s attention to the Armenian community’s continued demands that its perpetrator, Turkey, properly acknowledge its crimes against their civilian, Armenian population. The event will also highlight how the failure to acknowledge and punish genocide may result in its perpetuation, as demonstrated by Azerbaijan’s recent ethnic cleansing and genocidal campaign against the majority Armenian enclave of Artsakh.
The event will open with a solemn commemoration of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, which will be followed by the broadcast of testimonials of Armenian Genocide survivors by the day’s keynote speaker — Sedda Antekelian of the Shoah Foundation of the University of Southern California — as well as remarks from Congresswoman Judy Chu. The event will conclude with recitations of poems and songs by students of local Armenian schools, followed by programs to demonstrate the community’s resiliency in the face of genocide, and the education of a new generation of Armenian youth to preserve the future.
“The Armenian-American residents of Pasadena have a long, storied and proud presence and history here in the City of Pasadena, and throughout the San Gabriel Valley and beyond,” said Boghos Patatian, a representative of the Pasadena Armenian Coalition. He said the event is an opportunity to gather “en-mass to properly pay tribute and honor the lives and memories of over 1.5 million innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide, to raise awareness of the continued current atrocities being perpetrated on our compatriots in the Republic of Artsakh, but to also speak truth to power, that despite such perilous odds, recognize the resiliency and highlight the immeasurable positive contributions of our proud people.”
“We invite and encourage Armenian-Americans and the Pasadena community at large to join us in this effort and attend this important public commemoration event,” added Patatian.
The Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Monument is found in the City of Pasadena’s Memorial Park, located at 85 E. Holly St., Pasadena, CA.
Organized in the City of Pasadena, California in 2023, the Pasadena Armenian Coalition is comprised of a 30-member coalition consisting of every Armenian non-profit organization within the City of Pasadena, including Religious, Youth, Educational, Cultural, Political, and Philanthropic organizations. The Coalition promotes a broader cultural awareness of the rich history and contemporary contributions of the Armenian-American Community to the greater San Gabriel Valley community.
