Armenian-American Action Network Statement on Jimmy Williams Comments on Armenians and Armenia
UNITED STATES—American political commentator Jimmy Williams tweeted a series of statements against Armenians, Armenian-Americans and Armenia on July 3, 2021. We maintain unequivocally that these statements are racist and are part of larger structures of anti-Armenian racism, white supremacy, and American exceptionalism. Williams has still not adequately rectified these actions.
In response to another Twitter user, who is of Armenian descent, he chose to making sweeping statements directed against our entire community, focusing on the user’s identity. We called on Williams to apologize and take them down, and if he would not for Twitter to take action, as these statements were clearly a breach of Twitter’s community guidelines.
The tweets included statements “My favorite Armenians are the ones who stick to their country,” “When did Armenians start blaming Americans for all that is wrong in the world? I don’t get it.” and “Oh honey the last place I would colonize is Armenia.” Hundreds of Armenian-Americans responded, and asked Twitter to take down the posts and suspend Williams’ account.
Williams eventually did take them down and posted a long message. Armenian-American Action Network finds the original statement and it’s follow up apology inadequate as it failed to first, address that any harm had been done, and secondly, provide action steps on how Williams will engage the community in the future, and what proactive measures he will take for repair.
Williams must acknowledge that his statements were and are racist and he must learn about how his actions are connected to larger histories of anti-Armenian racism. Both his statements were and are racist.
Armenian-American Action Network, is an organization dedicated to protecting Armenian-American civil rights and serves as a resource for the larger U.S. community for issues of racial, economic, and social justice. Since the tweeted statements, Williams has still not taken adequate action to address his harm. We encourage Williams to reach out to us as a resource to learn about how to support efforts to fight anti-Armenian racism and build meaningful allyship.
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