Wednesday, May 13, 1992 - The Michigan Daily Summer Weekly - 5
Readers respond to Armenian ad
American Wolverines in London
To the Daily:
I would like to express to you my
outrage and concern over the way the
Daily handled the Armenian Students'
Cultural Association and their adver-
tisement. Is it the policy of the Daily to
question historicalevents?Why do you
consider an event recognized by the
MSA and the State of Michigan,among
others, as "debatable"?
The Daily cannot bully student or-
ganizations. I suggest that you think
twice beforeagain pressuring people as
you did in this case.
James Daily
LSA senior
To the Daily:
My grandfatherstill,tothisday (age
81) has nightmares and flashbacks of
the Armenian massacre in 1915-1919.
I am so upset that the Daily denied the
Armenian Club on campus the right to
print the words "genocide" and "mas-
sacre" in the ad on April 22. It's a
tragedy that people at the Daily are not
educatedregarding the Armeniangeno-
cide of 1915.
Richard Nadjarian
Public Health graduate student
To the Daily:
I do not feel that the Armenian
Genocide ad was handled-profession-
ally or tastefully. The commemoration
of a genocide deserves more respect
than you gave it.
Nayla Azzam
LSA first-year student
To the Daily:
I was very upset to see your edited
version of the Armenian Martyrs Day
ad you ran on April 22, 1992. My
grandparents are survivors of the geno-
cide you claim "allegedly" happened.
Jews and Blacks must
fight discrimination
To the Daily:
The undersigned members of the
University's Jewish community wish
to express our grave concern at the
verdict in the Los Angeles police bru-
tality case. The history of the Jewish
people,and the history of Black Ameri-
cans,arerepletewithinstancesof state-
condoned violence directed against our
respective minorities. Those histories
make it clear that passivity by the ma-
jority populationinthefaceofdiscrimi-
natory actions by govemment only en-
courages more frequent and more vio-
lent instances of discrimination in the
future. We wish to add our full support
to organizations and individuals in the
community who are speaking out
against the verdict and the police ac-
tions which it condoned, and to the
continuing struggle topreventsuchoc-
currences in the future.
At a time when the forces of divi-
siveness appear to be gaining strength
The Daily is actively seeking
political cartoonist to work on
information, call Gil Renberg
764.0552, or send an MTS m
If Icould only bring my grandparents to
the Daily,so they could tell you some of
the horror stories they went through...
then you would have no hesitation with
running the ad. My maternal grand-
mother lost over 40 members of her
family to the genocide!!
I urge you to recognize the Arme-
nian Genocide in which over 1.5-2 mil-
lion people "parished." I write this let-
ter in memory of my grandparents! WE
WILL NOT FORGET!!
Kim Bardakian
LSA first-year student
To the Daily:
TheArmenianGenocide isanevent
from the past that means something to
some people in our community. My
grandfather was smuggled through the
mountains to avoid the Turkish Massa-
cre. These events have made a pro-
found impacton my own life; therefore
I suggest that you double-check your
articles before printing them.
Darren Flagg
LSA first-year student
To the Daily:
I was recently disturbed to learn
that the Daily now questions the valid-
ity of the Armenian Genocide. I have
learned through history courses at this
university that the Armenian Genocide
is a known and documented fact. The
tragedies and sufferings of the Arme-
nian people, at the hand of the Turks,
must be recognized by the Daily. 1.5
million innocent lives were lost-and
your business manager calls that "de-
batable"?
Shital Acharya
LSA first-year student
To the Daily:
I have been offended by the actions
in America, when anti-Black, anti-
Semitic and other anti-minority inci-
dents are becoming ever more com-
mon, it is essential that all of us band
together to intensify the fight against
discrimination and thequest formutual
tolerance. We will continue to pursue
these goals on our campus and in our
communities,andwill always welcome
the opportunity to work together to-
ward our common goals.
Toby Citrin
School of Public Health
Editor'sNote:Theprecedingletter
was also signed by thefollowing mem-
bers of the University community:
Charles Butter, Irene Butter, Judith
Elkin, Todd Endelman, Eugene
Feingold, Richard Friedman, Charles
Garvin, Elliot Ginsburg, Jesse Gor-
donSylviaHackerLilyJarman-Rohde,
Susan Kane, Shelly Kovacs, Steven
Leber,JeffreyLehannJonathanLowe,
MartinPernickRoyRappaportGeorge
Rosenwald, David Scobey, David
Schoem, Donna Shewach.
an artist, illustrator, or a
n a weekly basis. For more
g or David Shepardson at
essage to either one.
of the Daily in regard to the handling of
the ad that was placed by the Armenian
Students Cultural Association on April
22, 1992. It isa disgrace to the Arme-
nian community at the University and
the Armenian community of the world
that the Daily refused to print the origi-
nalad.Onceagain,theArmenianpeople
are being denied the right to share their
tragic history with the rest of the world.
I have heard awful stories of my ances-
tors' deaths for as long as I can remem-
ber. For the Daily to tell me this isn't
true is an injustice.
I ask the Daily to investigate its
policies so that the paper does not make
such a mistake as it did on April 22,
1992.
Bethany White
LSA senior
To the Daily:
I am outraged at the fact that the
Armenian Genocide of 1915 is not be-
ing properly represented in your paper.
I am a second-generation Armenian in
this country. My grandparents were
survivorsof the massacre. Both of them
lost brothers, sisters, in-laws and par-
ents. Ihave beenraised feeling thisloss,
seeing my grandmother's tears and feel-
ing my grandfather's anger every year
when thecommemorationof the Arme-
nian Genocide approaches. The whole
world knows it happened and acknowl-
edges the fact- it's even documented
in world papers from the time in ques-
tion - except for maybe the Turks.
Why can't you? The Jews have theirs
acknowledged.Whynotthe Armenians
too?Even Hitler wasaware of the Mas-
sacre. It's disgusting that you're not,
especially at a university like Michi-
gan.
Andrea Kaloustian
LSA sophomore
Homeless man was
victim of 'ignorance'
To the Daily:
On April 20, as I rode my bicycle
past the Union, I heard a couple of
studentsshoutingatanoldergentleman
with a cane. Laughing, they said, "Go
on home!" before disappearing into the
building and leaving the man to defend
himself against invisible attackers.
During this term,Ihavevolunteered
with the Ann Arbor Hunger Coalition.
After meeting the people who come to
the churches to eat, I now recognize
many of them on our city's streets. That
man outside the Union does not see
very well nor walk very well; he has a
speech impediment, and indeed, he
doesn't wear aPolo shirt or Nike sneak-
ers.Butheisahumanbeing.Iknowthat
he smiles and he laughs, and he is
grateful forhelpwhenitisoffered. This
man does not deserve derision, rather
he deserves friendship and compas-
sion. Until we stop laughing at our less
fortunate citizens and stop seeking to
push them out of sight, we will be
unable to seriously confront the eco-
nomic andsocialproblemsthatprevent
these people from attaining a life with
dignity.
Perhaps it is best that Ididn'thave a
chance to accost the two students be-
To the Daily:
Julie Mangurten and I are both
University students studying abroad
this semester in London. Throughout
the semester we have been doing our
best to follow the Fab Five hoopers
and the rest of the Wolverine team,
although the British do not televise
any basketball. To further the prob-
lem,USA Today gets toEnglanda day
after it goes to press in the U.S.
Needless to say, both of us were
ecstatic with the team's NCAA tour-
namentrun.Likeeveryoneback home,
we were unsure of just how far they
would go. With every victory we be-
came moreexcited with thepossibility
of aNational Championship, yet at the
same time more and more frustrated
that we could not witness the games.
We would call home for scores and
highlightsrather than wait for thenews-
papers.
When the team went to the Final
Four, Julieand Igot to the end of being
calm and collected,long-distance fans.
We taunted students from other tour-
nament schools who were studying in
England. We swore that we'd beat
Duke this time.
Upon advancing to thechampion-
ship gamewecalledeverybroadcast-
ing network in England as well as all
U.S.networks in England(CBSNBC,
ABC etc.) to see if the game would be
shown. Notonewas showing the game;
basketball is not popular in England,
to say the least.
We resorted to calling airlines to
see if there was a cheap flight to Spain
or other European countries where the
game would be shown. Debate went
on about even flying to Ann Arbor.
After talking to the U.S. Embassy in
London a few times we got the phone
numbers of a few U.S. military bases
around England that may have been
receiving broadcasts of the game on
the Armed Forces Network.
Wefinally gotahold of the closest
baseinUpper Heyford,about60miles
from London. We reconfirmed many
times that they were showingthe game
and that as civilians and U.S. citizens
we could get ontothe base to watch the
game. We were overjoyed that the
game was being shown,butEngland is
fivehoursaheadofU.S.DaylightTime,
so the game was being aired at 2:30
fore they disappeared into the Union; I
probably would have said some things
that I would later have regretted. Per-
haps they did not fully understand the
cruelty of their actions; perhaps their
Chris Webber led the Michigan
Wolvervines in a quest for a
National Championship that took
them to the finals in Minneapolis
- thrilling fans as far away as the
United Kingdom.
a.m.
We caught the game-minus the
commercials which the Armed forces
Network filled in with its promos -
and cheered the whole time. After
being up all night, because the game
was over at 4:30 a.m., we took a cab
back to Oxford and caught the 5:30
a.m. bus back to London.
Even though the team lost, it was
FAN-tastic toseethemplay.Wethank
the FabFive,Coach SteveFisher,and
the rest of the team for driving us
crazy while we were away. It was
great watching them, and we know
they'll be back. We wanted to relate
our little story to the rest of the Michi-
gan campus and fans and show our
dedication to the University and the
Wolverines. GO BLUE!
Rick Baraff
Julie Mangurten
LSA juniors
principal crime was ignorance. I hope
so, for ignorance can be dispelled
through education.
John Humphries
Rackham graduate student
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