paul chaderjian

a column by Paul Chaderjian for the Asbarez newspaper Once there were and there were not … a people so ancient and devoted to their culture and identity, that their sons and daughters can be found in the most unexpected places in the world. It’s graduation season, and my niece Ani (who was just born yesterday!) is heading to my Alma mater to pursue a graduate degree in Strategic Public Relations. It was just yesterday when she was a one-year-old, being prompted to articulate where her uncle lived. “Boor-bank,” she would say. We learn early in life how to communicate, what to say when given specific questions, and what the talking points of our lives should be. Then one day, we discover we have the right to design our own talking points and how we want to answer others’ and life’s questions. Those who are wordsmiths get to write their way through a successful high school career and land at the best universities. Everything begins, after all, with the written word. The Bible tol...

95 years of questioning the reality of planned, brutal mass executions, the ethnic cleansing of a people from their place is far too long. Up against a looming deadline, a threat of losing their history and identity, a new generation of Armenians is waking up to an economic collapse, disappearing Diasporas, and questionable leadership. The time has come for modern-day Fedayees to take action, to use modern technologies and create global media messages about their legacy, history, and their future. This is our prophecy. BY PAUL CHADERJIAN AND ALLEN YEKIKAN At twenty-four minutes past four o’clock on the afternoon of April 24, a war for cultural survival wages on the streets of this metropolis. In the fight of their lifetime are young Armenians on the sidewalks of Wilshire, changing the rules, questioning Baby Boomer values, inventing a new movement, and sending a message to the world that justice will be served and their ancient culture will survive and thrive. On the front lines of thi...