April 24: Day of Genocide Remembrance

April 24 is a pretty big deal for Armenians all over the world. In 1915 1.5 million Armenians were exterminated by Turkey, and there hasn't been any sort of retribution in all this time. At the time, the world was lost in the first world war, and Turkey continually dismisses the killings as "war time casualties". So, the April 24 holiday has a dual purpose for Armenians. We commemorate those who died, through vigils, readings, prayer, etc. The second, and more recent aim of this day is to raise awarness of the Genocide, turn the tide and ultimately get worldwide recognition for the 1915 atrocity. Hits home for me, as my late grandmother was a survivor of the Genocide, resulting in her migration to the middle east, and eventually, to my own lebanese-Armenian heritage.

**Note: Those of you living in L.A. surely noticed lots of cars with Armenian flags (red/blue/orange in a horizontal pattern) draped all over them. Not a huge fan of this. April 24 is a day of mourning and of sadness. Not of Armenian pride. Ironically for some, the day has become the later. Ah well, there's surely no bad intent, just some large-scale misunderstanding. Maybe if they had some black "April 24: Genocide Remembrance" flags to put on their cars instead?