A Tale of THREE Countries' People?

Armenians have been coming to America for about 120 years. Though some of you think I might go back that far, no, not quite....My own family are fairly late comers, I'm a first generation on one side and second generation, but I do have some experience with it!

I write this because Mr. Z's account about Germans (article just below this) and how the people became so different after having lived in the East or the West really got me thinking of the situation of my own people.

Armenians, the last 100 years or so, came mostly from Turkey. The largest influx was soon after the massacres. The nightmare some call 'the Armenian genocide' in Turkey lasted through and just after World War I. (There are still Turks who deny the murder of 1.5 million Armenians. Just for your interest, I link this also and add that I'm not fighting that war here at my blog. You must draw your own conclusions about whether the death of hundreds of thousands of Armenian mothers and children was just or deserved.)

Armenians, for the most part, are like Germans. One might say they're known for being highly intelligent and successful in the arts, business, sciences, etc. I've always been very proud to be an Armenian, especially here in California, where the community has contributed in many constructive ways, including William Saroyan or California's two-term conservative governor, George Deukmejian.

Ronald Reagan once said, "America is a shining city on a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere." Armenians were a part of all those immigrant groups who came here to be part of the beautiful dream on that hill. In the early 20th century, we came and learned the English language as fast as we could, even forbidding Armenian to be spoken at home if that would help the children learn their new language faster. I've heard tales by relatives of first setting eyes on that amazing lady in the ocean in New York, the Statue of Liberty, and what that meant to them. They'd arrived! They had a hopeful future, they were actually in AMERICA! They couldn't wait to fit in and wouldn't have taken a handout if they could in any way avoid it, and very rarely did. They are known for their hard work, solid families, and children who went on to higher education. Armenians respected America and were thrilled and grateful to be part of it.

Turkish Armenians aren't Turkish, but it's how we're regarded in contrast to Russian Armenians. What is Turkey now was largely Armenia at one time, many, many years ago. So, those families still in Turkey when borders were moved were known as Turkish Armenians. My mother's family was from Istanbul but, for various reasons, she was raised in Cairo, Egypt. It was during the forties that Armenians in Cairo were encouraged to "Go to Armenia, the land of milk and honey! Go back to your roots!" Many did....only to be stuck there as soon as the Iron Curtain slammed down, with Armenia on the wrong side of it. If it weren't for my mother's brother, our whole family's history would have been rewritten for the worst. He felt something funny was happening and, him being the man of the house after their father had died, he convinced my grandmother not to go there. Many weren't that lucky. They went and joined their fellow Armenians in the Homeland, that land whose capital is Yerevan and which had been the first nation in the world to name Christianity its religion. Mount Ararat, where Noah's Ark landed, was once in the area of Armenia. Those Armenians were stuck there for years, two generations were raised under Communism. (I should say that Armenia hasn't been part of the USSR for about 15 years now, it's its own independent country, so I use the term "Russian Armenians" to classify those who were stuck in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia those years back and even who are there now only to contrast with Turkish Armenians; they are technically not Russian Armenians anymore.)

Those Russian Armenians started to arrive in America about thirty years ago. They started coming in droves and settled in pockets of Los Angeles, a large number settled in Glendale, California. I can only talk for Los Angeles, but I think this story here is probably echoed throughout America. I sincerely hope not. I say that because the Armenians who came here from Russian Armenia, in general, seem to have lost their way, they don't seem of the same stock as the Turkish Armenians. How could that be? Their relatives were here for years, no problems for America; if anything, only good came from that. The Russian Armenian counterparts have changed Los Angeles in a different way.

I once spoke to a policeman who told me "You know, we never had an Armenian in our jails ....not for many, many years! Suddenly, half the jails are full of them. They're the ones from Russia." Did their genes change? Was it something in the Russian water? For years, Armenians came and contributed, never took! Suddenly, I'm told the Armenians are coming with the phone numbers and addresses of welfare offices in the LA area. They're coming prepared to live off of this great country which the earlier arrivals of Armenians had revered and didn't want to harm, only wanted to be a part of in the best possible way. We Armenians here today who see what's happening cringe and bemoan the fact that this is happening to our city. We see first hand how much the people must have suffered in Armenia to have adapted to this kind of entitlement mentality.

The same people, the same genes, same intelligence, but the drive doesn't seem to be there, even dignity and following the laws seem to have gone by the wayside. There are those who won't work, the children are not so encouraged to get a higher education, they've created street gangs! I must qualify this: it seems that it's "the more recent the arrival, the most problems"....many Russian Armenians have fit beautifully into Los Angeles over the last 30 years.

Yes, they lived under Communism, they had Black Market mentality drilled into them from an early age. Hard work had stopped paying off in the Old Country years ago, why bother? One must survive. As much as America was, and still is, the land of opportunity and the place which had welcomed millions of contributing and appreciative Armenians for years, suddenly even those Armenians are stunned at this new influx of people who, in general, only want to take, not contribute.

I like to hope that Armenians born here, whose ancestors had been stuck behind the Iron Curtain, will be influenced by those of us who set a good example for them. I hear some good things in that vain, I pray it's so. As America seems to be adapting, more and more, a socialist mentality of entitlement and government-owned companies, free education, free health care, one wonders which group of Armenians will feel most comfortable in this great land in, say, 10 years.

I don't have the answer for that, but I will say I'm proud to be a part of that group who came earlier, who appreciated all America meant and who, I think, have been part of the building of this great land. Mr. Z said this at the end of his story:

"Same people, same genes, same history; but what a difference under two distinctly different ideologies. America, please benefit from Germany's past. We owe it to you." I'll leave you with this in relating to the Armenian people:

"Same people, same genes, same history; but what a difference under two distinctly different ideologies. America, we Turkish Armenians who've benefited from you will never cease to be grateful. We will try with all our might to make sure America stays the great land it has been; a land which offers opportunity more than any other country in the whole wide world, a land which rewards hard work and integrity, a land that has been so good to those of us who understand your history and live by your laws. We'll try to keep it that way. We owe it to you."

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