Jennie Garabedian
Jennie's mother had been an Armenian Genocide survivor and had told Jennie many stories about her journey. However, Jennie's mother was not the only one who experienced hatred for being Armenian. In the excerpt, Jennie was 10 years old when she was hit by a rock and called "you dirty Armenians".
Jennie was attacked because she was Armenian, the hatred that was also passed on from generation to generation has also been a main factor of generational trauma. The hatred in the world has caused the denial of the genocide and the killing of 1.5 million innocent people.
When the Armenian Genocide was recognized in the United States in 2019, it was a significant day for all Armenians. The denial of the genocide had caused so much pain because they were denying the many deaths that had occurred to innocent people. The descendants of Armenian survivors and victims also felt the pain, many had listened and learned how their homeland and roots got taken away and the U.S. continously failed to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
"That hurts. You're like a non -person. When I went to Turkey, I wanted to say to them, 'here, pinch me. I'm real. I exist because you didn't get rid of me. I still exist.' It's, it's, that hurts."
Jennie wanted to keep this newspaper clipping because it was a step forward to feeling less pain. That pain will always live with Jennie, the feeling that she is a "non-person" because she knows how much her mother and siblings suffered to survive the genocide. Jennie is proud of being an Armenian but it also has brought generational trauma.