Kendra S. Horn: “once again, I join my colleagues and the world in remembering those who suffered the horrifying events of the Armenian…”

“once again, I join my colleagues and the world in remembering those who suffered the horrifying events of the Armenian genocide. The tragedy of lost lives through ethnic cleansing must never be forgotten. The Armenian genocide marked the beginning of a barbaric practice beginning in the 20th century. More than a million and a half Armenians were killed and forcibly departed. The Ottoman Turks brutally uprooted and systematically eliminated Armenians from their homeland. To this day, the Turkish Government continues to deny that millions of Armenians were killed simply because they were Armenian. As an educator, I believe we must emphasize the role of education throughout the world. We must continue to forbid actions of racial intolerance and religious persecution which have led to so many cases of ethnic cleansing. The tragedies of the past 2 decades, including those in Cambodia, Rwanda, Kosovo, attest to this fact. We must continue teaching our children tolerance so the next generation is armed with the knowledge and the power to defeat racial and religious persecution wherever it arises. We refuse to acknowledge and understand racial and religious intolerance. We are doomed to repeat the same tragedies again and again if we do not constantly use our voices and our prayers for a much better situation in the 21st century of this country.”