April 23, 2007
An Open Letter to the Campus and International Community:
On Thursday, April 26, 2007, the Department of History at CSULB will co-host an important event: a screening of the film The Armenian Genocide by acclaimed filmmaker Andrew Goldberg, to be followed by a discussion of the film, journalist and humanitarian Hrant Dink, and the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation movement. I fully endorse the efforts of this University to bring greater understanding and tolerance about these issues by supporting this event.
In the past few days, I have received via electronic mail quite a number of protest letters from around the country, demanding that I cancel this event. I am troubled by the tenor of these protests and view them as clear attempts to intimidate me personally and professionally, with the ultimate aim of stifling academic discussion not only of the film, but also of the tremendously important efforts to come to terms with the Armenian genocide, an event that occurred nearly a century ago. I am profoundly concerned that these protests have asserted that the genocide “is a myth,” in the words of one writer. Denial perpetuates the trauma experienced by all who have been affected by violence, ethnic cleansing, religious intolerance, and genocide in our world today. I am also distressed that several writers have identified themselves as Fulbright scholars; to do so, in my view, is a moral violation of the spirit of the Fulbright Program, which was established to “increase mutual understanding” and to “exchange ideas and embark on joint ventures of importance to the general welfare of the world’s inhabitants.” http://exchanges.state.gov/education/fulbright/
As Professor James Sheehan of Stanford University, former President of the American Historical Association, has noted, few scholars outside of Turkey have contested the facts of the Armenian tragedy, in which as many as 1.5 million Armenians were killed or expelled from the late Ottoman Empire in the World War I era. The history of this issue has remained a politically contentious one, however, both within and outside of Turkey. [See Sheehan, “Contested Histories,” AHA Perspectives, September 2005 at http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2005/0509/0509pre1.cfm.] The work of scholars who have called attention to the Armenian genocide, such as that of Turkish intellectual Dr. Taner Akçam, has been attacked by ultra-nationalists. [See the letter of support from the History Department of the University of Minnesota at http://www.hist.umn.edu/Akcam_Letter.pdf.] The Los Angeles Times published an op-ed essay over this past weekend, in which columnist Matt Welch observed that to deny any present-day admission of the “mass slaughter of an ethnic minority” in the late Ottoman Empire, presents a “chilling reminder that forgetting is the first step in enabling future genocides.” [See Welch, “The Politics of Saying ‘Genocide’,” Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2007] Departments of Education in Massachusetts and elsewhere have endorsed the teaching of the histories of twentieth-century mass murders as genocide, including the events of the Ottoman Empire, Rwanda, Nazi Germany, the former Soviet Union under Stalin, Cambodia, and the Sudan, as have the leaders of ASTT, Advocates for Survivors of Torture and Trauma [Advocates Voice Newsletter, Winter 2006]. In another essay directed to the historical community, AHA President Sheehan argued that responsible historians should: “concentrate our attention on trying to end restrictions on research and discussion [of the Armenian case] in the present.” [AHA Perspectives, December 2005] It is in this spirit that the event of April 26th will be held.
We invite the campus community to attend this event. We expect that all attendees will conform to the University’s policy on civility and non-violence in debate and behavior, available at http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/aa/grad_undergrad/senate/documents/violence/. We have requested the presence of Campus Police, who will attend the event in force. We are a peaceful campus, dedicated to increasing knowledge about the past and the present, and to rational debate about issues of concern to all. On a personal level, the letters of protest I have received have only strengthened my resolve to support this event. There is clearly a great need for dialogue and discussion of these events – and for acceptance and reconciliation among people of all ethnic backgrounds. We in the History Department at CSULB aspire to participate in this healing process. Tolerance and understanding is our goal. I am enormously proud to be a member of the CSULB community, where discussion of such issues is encouraged.
Sincerely,
Nancy Quam-Wickham, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of History
