US Media Racism Pillories Armenians

A few weeks ago, several Armenian nationals; gangsters and their associates, were charged for allegedly setting up fake clinics using stolen identities to make false claims for treatment.

A few weeks ago, several Armenian nationals; gangsters and their associates, were charged for allegedly setting up fake clinics using stolen identities to make false claims for treatment.

News agencies that identified the alleged culprits as “Armenians” rather than “Armenian nationals”, have castigated the entire Armenian race, by guilt through association. This is no different than someone at work, printing this news story, bringing it to a meeting in front of your peers, and then asking you point blank “Are you ashamed of your Armenian race?”

Whether you are ashamed or not ashamed of these individuals should not have anything to do with Armenian identity. These individuals owed you no duty whatsoever. They are NOT your brothers and sisters. They may share a similar ethnic background, but, they do not represent Armenian ethnicity at large. If this were the case, ethnic Armenians should start beating themselves up for every speeding infraction or gambling debt, or other such problems an average person in the global population would encounter, whenever an individual ethnic Armenian comes across such malady…

What has largely been ignored by the media’s portrayal of the alleged criminals, are the potential long-term effects through racial profiling.

Racial profiling refers to the discriminatory practice of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on an individual’s race, ethnicity, religion or national origin. Criminal profiling, generally, as practiced by police, is the reliance on a group of characteristics they believe to be associated with crime.

The most recent cases of racial profiling is the targeting, ongoing since the September 11th attacks, of Arabs, Muslims and South Asians for detention on minor immigrant violations in the absence of any connection to the attacks on the World Trade Center or the Pentagon.

By staying silent, Armenians risk the threat of being the next “Arabs”, or “African-American”, fighting racism behind the eight-ball. In almost all cases where stereotypes based on racial profiling, ensuing violence emerges. Besides the obvious form of violence, there is the muted threat of economic opportunities, and the loss of the right to pursue happiness that accompanies the glass walls of racial stereotyping. (Detailing all instances of violence based on racial profiling is beyond the scope of this op-ed piece. A quick google search will help.

Ultimately, the question that needs to be asked is: where is our Anti-Defamation League? Why have our traditional Diaspora organizations stayed muted on this topic? What is the Armenian Bar Association’s point of view? Surely, an organized group of Armenian lawyers could see the potential ramifications of allowing this form of racial profiling…

By staying silent on this issue of racial profiling, ethnic Armenians should expect the consequences that come with “guilt by association.”