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MASSACHUSETTS LAWSUIT SEEKS TO BLOCK THE TEACHING OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
-- ANC-Massachusetts Condemns False "First Amendment" Effort to Force the
Teaching of Genocide Denial to the Commonwealth's Public School Students
WATERTOWN, MA - A Washington-based Turkish organization has enlisted the
support of two teachers and a student in a lawsuit against the State of
Massachusetts that would compel the inclusion of historically inaccurate
Armenian Genocide denial materials in the state's education curriculum,
reported the Armenian National Committee of Eastern Region (ANC-ER).
In a brief filed with the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, the Assembly
of Turkish American Associations (ATAA), a lobbying group which works
closely with the Turkish government in fighting against U.S. recognition of
this crime against humanity, calls for the inclusion of their website in a
list of educational sources provided to teachers, as part of a teacher's
guide on genocide education provided by the State. The court document also
calls for the addition of other websites, including that of the Embassy of
the Republic of Turkey, which the ATAA had lobbied to include in the guide,
but were disqualified because they denied the Armenian Genocide, in direct
contravention of the Massachusetts statute requiring the teaching of the
Armenian Genocide.
According to an October 27th Wall Street Journal article, the ATAA lawyer,
Harvey Silverglate, argues that the removal of the genocide denial sources
violates First Amendment rights to free speech.
"The Armenian National Committee will counteract this effort on the part of
the ATAA to use the courts to legislate state curriculum for the purpose of
denying genocide to public school students. We are confident that we will
prevail," said Dikran Kaligian, chairman of the Armenian National Committee
for the Eastern Region.
The Massachusetts Genocide teaching guide was mandated to include the
Armenian Genocide, following the August, 1998, unanimous passage of House
Bill 3629 "An Act Relative to the Instruction of the Great Hunger Period in
Ireland, the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust." ANC chapters throughout
Massachusetts had worked with bill authors, State Senator Steve Tolman and
House Member Warren Tolman in support of the measure, which stated that,
"The Board of Education shall formulate recommendations on curricular
materials on genocide and human rights issues, and guidelines for the
teaching of such material." The law specifically calls for the teaching of
"the period of the transatlantic slave trade and the middle passage, the
great hunger period in Ireland, the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust and the
Mussolini fascist regime and other recognized human rights violations and
genocides."
The ANC Massachusetts continued to work with the Massachusetts Board of
Education, providing information on peer-reviewed, teacher tested resources
for inclusion in the teaching guide. In June of 1999, the ANC-MA protested
the proposed inclusion of genocide denial propaganda in the teaching guide
that lobby groups, among them the ATAA, had pressured the Board of Education
to add in its second version of the guide. In a letter to Massachusetts
Governor Paul Cellucci, the chairmen of the state's four ANC's argued that
inclusion of such websites "is directly counter to the intent of the law."
The letter went on to note that, "careless intermingling of genocide denial
with the documentary sources it aims to obscure, will only serve to confuse
students and undermine academic integrity."
In August of 1999, in a letter to the ATAA, made public as part of the
lawsuit, the Board of Education argued that "since the legislative intent of
the statute was to address the Armenian Genocide, and not to debate whether
or not this occurred, the Board and Department of Education cannot knowingly
include resources that call this into question." By October, 1999, the
denial material was removed from the teacher's guide.
In 2002, the ANC of Massachusetts again took action regarding the genocide
curriculum, when a revised version which was up for review in May, proposed
the removal of the Armenian Genocide from the curriculum, to be replaced
with a more euphemistic and evasive reference to Armenian "slaughter."
Community leaders again worked with Department of Education Commissioner
David Driscoll to ensure that the proper terminology was maintained.
According to the District Court of Massachusetts Clerk's Office, as of
Friday, October 28th, the ATAA lawsuit had not yet officially been filed,
although the attorney for the ATAA has provided several press interviews.
ATAA lawyer Harvey Silverglate, who has made a career of First Amendment
cases, has taken on a string of fringe causes and clients, including the
American Nazi Party during the school-busing crisis in Boston. In 2000, he
defended NAMBLA, an organization advocating sexual relations between men and
underaged boys, in a case involving the 1997 assault and murder of a 10-year
old child.
-- ANC-Massachusetts Condemns False "First Amendment" Effort to Force the
Teaching of Genocide Denial to the Commonwealth's Public School Students
WATERTOWN, MA - A Washington-based Turkish organization has enlisted the
support of two teachers and a student in a lawsuit against the State of
Massachusetts that would compel the inclusion of historically inaccurate
Armenian Genocide denial materials in the state's education curriculum,
reported the Armenian National Committee of Eastern Region (ANC-ER).
In a brief filed with the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, the Assembly
of Turkish American Associations (ATAA), a lobbying group which works
closely with the Turkish government in fighting against U.S. recognition of
this crime against humanity, calls for the inclusion of their website in a
list of educational sources provided to teachers, as part of a teacher's
guide on genocide education provided by the State. The court document also
calls for the addition of other websites, including that of the Embassy of
the Republic of Turkey, which the ATAA had lobbied to include in the guide,
but were disqualified because they denied the Armenian Genocide, in direct
contravention of the Massachusetts statute requiring the teaching of the
Armenian Genocide.
According to an October 27th Wall Street Journal article, the ATAA lawyer,
Harvey Silverglate, argues that the removal of the genocide denial sources
violates First Amendment rights to free speech.
"The Armenian National Committee will counteract this effort on the part of
the ATAA to use the courts to legislate state curriculum for the purpose of
denying genocide to public school students. We are confident that we will
prevail," said Dikran Kaligian, chairman of the Armenian National Committee
for the Eastern Region.
The Massachusetts Genocide teaching guide was mandated to include the
Armenian Genocide, following the August, 1998, unanimous passage of House
Bill 3629 "An Act Relative to the Instruction of the Great Hunger Period in
Ireland, the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust." ANC chapters throughout
Massachusetts had worked with bill authors, State Senator Steve Tolman and
House Member Warren Tolman in support of the measure, which stated that,
"The Board of Education shall formulate recommendations on curricular
materials on genocide and human rights issues, and guidelines for the
teaching of such material." The law specifically calls for the teaching of
"the period of the transatlantic slave trade and the middle passage, the
great hunger period in Ireland, the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust and the
Mussolini fascist regime and other recognized human rights violations and
genocides."
The ANC Massachusetts continued to work with the Massachusetts Board of
Education, providing information on peer-reviewed, teacher tested resources
for inclusion in the teaching guide. In June of 1999, the ANC-MA protested
the proposed inclusion of genocide denial propaganda in the teaching guide
that lobby groups, among them the ATAA, had pressured the Board of Education
to add in its second version of the guide. In a letter to Massachusetts
Governor Paul Cellucci, the chairmen of the state's four ANC's argued that
inclusion of such websites "is directly counter to the intent of the law."
The letter went on to note that, "careless intermingling of genocide denial
with the documentary sources it aims to obscure, will only serve to confuse
students and undermine academic integrity."
In August of 1999, in a letter to the ATAA, made public as part of the
lawsuit, the Board of Education argued that "since the legislative intent of
the statute was to address the Armenian Genocide, and not to debate whether
or not this occurred, the Board and Department of Education cannot knowingly
include resources that call this into question." By October, 1999, the
denial material was removed from the teacher's guide.
In 2002, the ANC of Massachusetts again took action regarding the genocide
curriculum, when a revised version which was up for review in May, proposed
the removal of the Armenian Genocide from the curriculum, to be replaced
with a more euphemistic and evasive reference to Armenian "slaughter."
Community leaders again worked with Department of Education Commissioner
David Driscoll to ensure that the proper terminology was maintained.
According to the District Court of Massachusetts Clerk's Office, as of
Friday, October 28th, the ATAA lawsuit had not yet officially been filed,
although the attorney for the ATAA has provided several press interviews.
ATAA lawyer Harvey Silverglate, who has made a career of First Amendment
cases, has taken on a string of fringe causes and clients, including the
American Nazi Party during the school-busing crisis in Boston. In 2000, he
defended NAMBLA, an organization advocating sexual relations between men and
underaged boys, in a case involving the 1997 assault and murder of a 10-year
old child.
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