Past Campaigns & Events
Follow us on social media for the latest updates on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and sign up for our email list!
Don’t Erase Armenian-American Studies in the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC)
Update: june 2021 - We won!
Update: March 16, 2021
Take Action
Urgent! The State Board of Education (SBE) in California is now considering edits that would erase Armenian-American studies and history! We need to be in the main curriculum with all West Asian communities under Asian American Studies
We need to let them know how Armenian-Americans across the United States feel. How to Take Action:
Submit a comment directly to the SBE now: https://www3.cde.ca.gov/sbecontactform/sbecontactform1.aspx?m=allmembers
Sample email template: My name is [insert name] and I am an Armenian-American concerned about our erasure in the curriculum. The voices of Armenian Americans are being erased from the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum even though we have submitted over 9000 comments in this process. Armenian American Studies must be included in the main curriculum under Asian American Studies together with all other West Asian American Studies. Item 09 Attachment 2 must be rejected. The status of the Bridging section (now named Sample Lessons) is unclear and must be clarified to the public, and added in the main curriculum. The SBE must bring in Ethnic Studies Scholars who specialize in studying West Asian communities as a racial group within the United States. We cannot be erased, our histories and struggles are often ignored but we won’t allow them to be in the State with our largest community in the U.S.
Make Public Comment with us by Phone at 9AM on Thursday March 18th, 2021 at the State Board of Education Meeting
We need Armenians to come speak at the State Board of Education (SBE) Meeting Thursday March 18, 2021 directly to the members of the SBE. These policy makers needs to hear from parents, students, and families directly about how we feel about them erasing Armenian-American Studies
SIGN UP to speak and we will be in contact with you: https://forms.gle/trBHfoeYtdU4uQrm8
Instructions for Public Comment
1) Call By Phone - Sign on at 9am PST
Phone number: 712-770-5316, Participant Access Code: 4337117
2) The operator will notify callers when it is their turn to provide public comment. You will need to remain on the available by your phone for several hours and they will let you know when it is your time.
Each speaker will be allotted only one minute of public comment for each agenda item.
3) When you are called on:
Sample Script: My name is [insert name] and I am an Armenian-American concerned about our erasure in the curriculum. The voices of Armenian Americans are being erased from the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum even though we have submitted over 9000 comments in this process. Armenian American Studies must be included in the main curriculum under Asian American Studies together with all other West Asian American Studies. Item 09 Attachment 2 must be rejected. We are not included even though we have been saying the same things in all these comments for these 2 years. The SBE must bring in Ethnic Studies Scholars who specialize in studying West Asian communities as a racial group within the United States. We cannot be erased, our histories and struggles are often ignored but we won’t allow them to be in the State with our largest community in the U.S.
Prior Updates & BackGround
The California Department of Education is currently deciding on an Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC) for California K-12 students. This model will be taught to California students across the state and is the product of years of struggle and advocacy by educators and practitioners of Ethnic Studies.
Our children deserve to see their histories reflected and uplifted in their classrooms. Our community in the United States and abroad is under attack, and residents of the U.S. must learn about our lives, histories, and issues.
We as Armenian-Americans believe it is imperative that Armenian-American Studies is included in the main curriculum. After coalitional advocacy work, Armenian-Americans appear now in the appendix. But we continue to be marginalized in the actual model.
Armenian-American Studies and all West Asian-American Studies must be included in the ESMC. West Asian-American Studies is Asian-American Studies and is part of the next generation of exciting and empowering work within Ethnic Studies.
California must
Hear the calls of over 6,000 public comments by Armenian-Americans calling for Armenian-Americans Studies to be in the main curriculum
Write Armenian-American Studies into the ESMC using experts with this specialty who are Ethnic Studies practitioners
Ground the ESMC in Ethnic Studies guiding principles, grounded in its anti-racist, decolonial purpose
Armenian-Americans have long histories of racialization, immigration, refugeehood, as well as legal, educational and linguistic marginalization. Ethnic Studies helps young students make sense of their realities. Our students deserve, as the ESMC states, “culturally/community relevant and responsive pedagogies that are both revitalizing and sustaining.”
Relevant Links for More Information:
West Asian American Studies Now
Beyond Jermag Yev Sev: A Roundtable on Armenian-American Identity
ANCA-WR Education Committee Statement on Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum
Armenian-American Studies Collective
Put Armenian-American Studies in the California Ethnic Studies curriculum
“We Will Not Be Erased”
Armenian Genocide Recognition Coalitional work
Success!— U.S. Recognition of the Armenian Genocide! After generations of Armenian-American advocacy, President Biden recognizes the Armenian Genocide
Race, Identity and the Future of Armenian-American Studies
“Justice Organizing in the U.S. Armenian Community”
Community Dialogues
