Denial is the act of not believing or accepting something as fact or reality, a word that is closely tied to the date of April 24, 1915 for Armenians worldwide.
            To most students across the nation, this day may be another routine morning, afternoon, and night. Yet, to the wonderful city of Glendale, California where the majority ethnicity is Armenian, it is a day filled with scorn, angst, and rage. At least that is the way it should be. 
            From 1915 to 1917, the Young Turks of the Ottoman Empire slaughtered and killed millions of Armenians. To this day, the Turkish government denies doing so. They ruthlessly murdered with intent to deplete the entire Armenian race from the face of the world. But ask the Turkish government, and their answer is that the Armenians died due to inter-ethnic disease, famine, and strife due to World War I. How convenient.
            Let’s put this into words that every teenager would be able to easily comprehend.
            Imagine if a certain country was at war with another country, barging in on their style of government and overall way of life. While this is all occurring, this country knows that they are at fault, lacking the support of most of its citizens. Yet, continuously, the president of this country lies and manipulates the reality attempting to convince the people that they are doing a right thing. Sound familiar?
            Face it, if there is one thing we as teenagers know is easy to do, it is lying. Yet in reality, lies are messy. Whether you are lying about a doctor’s note to skip class or lying about being not responsible for genocide, the truth almost always finds its way through the cracks. Your English teacher may discover your poorly forged signature, or maybe you slipped up and did not wipe out a race completely like you swore you would.
            Even if the actual occurrence of the genocide is “debatable,” Armenians still come back to the day of April 24 with expectations. The dream that one day the blood, tears, and sweat shed by the Armenian people will be noticed.
            If you are going to live your entire life supporting the belief that our generation is the most apathetic of all, there is a cause you should want to unite and stand up for. One turning event in history you should fight against. And one happening which continues to this day that hits at home you should desire to gain justice for. 
            On March 31, 2007 Congresswoman Diane Watson took notice of Turkey’s never-ending rampage of destroying the Armenian culture and heritage. Years of demanding for justice has not gone unnoticed, seeing as how Turkey has done the honor of preserving one of the many beaten down Armenian churches located in Turkey.
            Wow, how could one remember things like the recent killing of the Armenian author Hrant Dink after such a nice, not so successful, blindsiding deed?
            The genocide started on April 24, 1915, and secretly lurks on to this day. For those of us living our lavish lives in the land of the free, there is so much we can do to raise awareness.
            It is not about slapping on a “1915 Never Again” bracelet or shirt and parading down the hallways or streets flaunting the fact that your people were killed. It is not about taking the day off, sleeping in, and watching “The Jerry Springer Show” as people are out marching and protesting for justice.
            Instead, it is about knowing what happened and talking about the facts.
            Here in Glendale, we have the highest population of Armenians in the entire country, and yet, there is not one thing mounted to represent what happened on that day of April 24.
            No shrine. No statue. No monument.
            With so much progress left to make, what will you do this year as this day fast approaches?
            To the Armenian who never really cared, will you fess up to the humiliation and go up to your elderly family members and see their side to this tragic story?
            To the clueless and frustrated non-Armenian, will you crack open a book and see what it is that we have been “complaining” about all these years?
            Almost every race has been a victim to the atrocities and wrong doings of another race, yet the Armenian genocide is one of many that has not been given its recognition.
            Adolf Hitler, responsible for Germany’s extermination of six million Jews, said it himself, “Who after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”
            We do, because if we do not, someone will get the idea that it is okay.