James Rogan: “Imagine an entire village, 10,000 people, drowned at once. Imagine watching as your fathers and brothers are burned to…”

“Imagine an entire village, 10,000 people, drowned at once. Imagine watching as your fathers and brothers are burned to death. Imagine watching men in your community tied to horses and dragged away. Or watching children see their mothers and sisters raped and then beaten and dragged away. Imagine, if you will, smiling soldiers posing alongside the corpses of those who were just moments before family, friends and neighbors. Imagine if all this happened in front of your eyes, and then as you grew old, history and indeed nations of the world choose to ignore it all. Mr. Speaker, these memories were not imagined, they were witnessed by thousands. Today these memories live in the hearts and minds of many of my friends and thousands of my constituents. It is our duty not to let these memories fade. Mr. Speaker, I rise to support legislation that will forever recognize the atrocities committed against the Armenian people at the hands of the Ottoman Turks between 1915 and 1923. In eight short years, more than 1.5 million husbands, wives and children suffered and died.”