Day: April 11, 2024

SACRAMENTO – Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – Burbank) led efforts this week to submit a letter to the White House urging President Biden to address the exclusion of Armenian Americans from the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) checkbox in the U.S. census.

“I am deeply concerned that hundreds of thousands of Armenian Americans were excluded from the MENA checkbox,” stated Senator Portantino. “Excluding an entire segment of the population in the census has serious repercussions for equality, justice, and democracy. Armenian Americans have a rich and vibrant history in the United States, and especially in the 25th Senate District.

They have made significant contributions to the cultural, economic, and social fabric of our state and nation. It is imperative that they are accurately counted and represented in the census to ensure fair allocation of resources and equitable representation.”

On March 29, the Office of Management and Budget announced revisions to Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards or Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (SPD 15). Although the notice is intended to yield a more accurate census of people with Hispanic, Middle Eastern and North African heritage, Armenian Americans were excluded from the new Middle Eastern and North African Category.

“California is home to the largest population of Armenian Americans in the nation. Excluding them from the census fails to acknowledge the atrocities their people have faced, and diminishes their ability to be represented. I strongly urge the Biden Administration to right this wrong,” stated Senator Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita).

The letter, also signed by Senators Bob Archuleta, Maria Elena Durazo, Scott Wilk, Henry Stern and Caroline Menjivar, urges the Office of Management and Budget to rectify the oversight and to ensure that Armenian Americans have a presence in the census. Senator Portantino chairs Senate Select Committee on California, Armenia, and Artsakh Mutual Trade, Art, and Cultural Exchange.

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Nancy Agabian and Aida Zilelian to address “Armenian Trauma and Healing in Contemporary Fiction” in Watertown

Post author By Mike Nova
Post date April 11, 2024

WATERTOWN, Mass.—Authors Aida Zilelian and Nancy Agabian will present “Armenian Trauma and Healing in Contemporary Fiction” on Saturday, April 20, 2024 at 2:30 p.m. at the Watertown Free Public Library in the Watertown Savings Bank Room, 123 Main St., Watertown, MA 02472. Register for the event here.

Zilelian, author of All the Ways We Lied, and Agabian, author of The Fear of Large and Small Nations, will read from and discuss their new novels that center on Armenian American intimacies concerning family, relationships and immigration. Both novels deal with intergenerational trauma through echoes of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. To commemorate April 24 (Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day), the authors will also discuss how their fiction facilitates healing.

About the Authors

Agabian is a writer, teacher and literary organizer, working in the intersections of queer, feminist and Armenian American identity. She is the author of the poetry/performance collection Princess Freak (Beyond Baroque Books, 2000) and the memoir Me as her again: True Stories of an Armenian Daughter (Aunt Lute, 2008). Her novel, The Fear of Large and Small Nations, was a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction and is available now on Nauset Press.

Zilelian is a first-generation American-Armenian writer, educator and storyteller from Queens, NY. She is the author of The Legacy of Lost Things (2015, Bleeding Heart Publications), which was the recipient of the 2014 Tololyan Literary Award. Aida’s most recently completed novel, All the Ways We Lied, was released in January 2024 (Keylight Books/Turner Bookstore).