In Remembrance
Today is Armenian Remembrance Day, a day set aside in memory of the Armenian genocide by the Turks mostly during World War I.
President Bush made a statement today stating «there cannot be reconciliation until there is truth telling» but stopped short of using the word «genocide.» The government in Ankara still insists that there was no genocide, but historians generally agree that the Turkish slaughter of Armenians was the first genocide of the Twentieth Century.
Here in San Francisco, the Mount Davidson Cross has been dedicated as a memorial to the Armenians. Some have criticized this as a transparent attempt to keep a religious monument in the City, as the Cross and the land surrounding it was sold to the Council of Armenian American Organizations of Northern California to deflect a lawsuit by American Atheists, Inc. demanding that the Cross, which was on City property, be torn down. The American Atheists website describes the Cross as «The 103 foot disregard for the first amendment.»(sic)
Personally, I think American Atheists, Inc. are a bunch of wingnuts. I mean, let’s say they’re right; why screw up the placebo effect for all the poor suckers who believe in God? Anyhow, that’s beside the point.
My second thought on the subject is that it’s important to remember the Armenian Genocide. If a 103-foot cross on top of Mount Davidson is good enough for the CAAONC then let them have it. Normally I would think a recycled monument is a little bit tacky, but in this case, they get prime placement and a monument with historic significance. Lots of people visit the cross every day, and if even a few of them get a little education about history, I call that a Good Thing.
Here’s why I’m so passionate about this: Hitler said, in justification of his Final Solution, «who, today, remembers the Armenians?» I can think of no better illustration of the old saw that those who don’t remember history are doomed to repeat it. Of course, the Armenian Genocide should be remembered simply for what it was, but to me it also serves as a poignant reminder of the consequences of willful ignorance of atrocity. Forget the past and not only will we repeat it, but our forgetting will be used as an excuse for something just as bad but on a grander scale.
Finally, to end on a lighter note, the Cross should remain not for any religious significance, but for historical significance. It’s a San Francisco landmark, like Coit Tower or the Golden Gate Bridge. Dirty Harry first encountered the Scorpio Killer at the base of the Mount Davidson Cross. Tearing it down would be a totally different kind of sacrilege than the kind the American Atheists are interested in. My rule of thumb is this: Any San Francisco landmark to appear onscreen with Clint Eastwood or Steve McQueen stays.
