Actor, writer, and producer Joe Manganiello offered a moving reflection on his great-grandmother’s survival of the Armenian Genocide and the legacy of generational trauma it left behind. In recounting her harrowing escape from Kharpert, Manganiello described how she survived a bullet wound, swam across the Euphrates River with her last remaining child, and ultimately came to the United States — only to lose that child to drowning along the way. “I feel like I answered a message in a bottle that was thrown out by her in 1915,” he said, describing his recent journey to Armenia and the emotional moment of planting a tree at the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan. “We’re in danger of the culture being lost,” he warned. “As the turbulence rises in that area of the world, we have to get out there and protect that homeland.” Emphasizing the need for truth and advocacy, he added, “There are so many people out there that don’t know that the genocide exists until we say it. So let everybody know. Make sure that they do know. And let’s all heal together.”
Congressional leaders joined with Armenian Americans and allies from across the country on April 2nd for the annual Capitol Hill observance of the Armenian Genocide, issuing bipartisan calls for Azerbaijan’s immediate release of Armenian prisoners, the right of return for displaced Artsakh Armenians, and U.S. sanctions on both the Aliyev and Erdogan regimes for war crimes and genocidal ethnic cleansing, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
A dozen U.S. Senate and House members shared remarks and offered support for the event including Senators Cory Booker (NJ), Andy Kim (NJ), Ed Markey (MA), and Adam Schiff (CA), Congressional Armenian Caucus Founding Co-Chair Frank Pallone (NJ) and Vice Chair Brad Sherman (CA) and Representatives Gabe Amo (RI), Herb Conaway (NJ), Jim Costa (CA), Laura Friedman (CA), George Latimer (NY), and Jim McGovern (MA).
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