2007 Billboards commemorating
the 92 Anniversary of The Armenian Genocide
by: Rosario Teixeira

Watertown, MA - Every spring, since 1996 the artist Daniel Varoujan Hejinian, founder of Peace of Art, Inc., has sponsored the Armenian Genocide commemorative billboards to honor the memory of the victims and survivors.

In the last four years the billboard message has been sponsored by Peace of Art, Inc., www.PeaceofArt.org a non-profit educational organization without political or religious associations. Peace of Art, Inc., uses the universal language of art to bring awareness to the human condition.

"Permanent marks bleed through!"
is the message on the 2007 Armenian Genocide commemorative billboards displayed on Mount Auburn and Arsenal Streets in Watertown. The message calls for recognition of the first genocide of the twentieth century and conveys that denial cannot bleach away this period in history.

The Armenian Genocide was well documented in photos, official documents and written reports. The Holocaust was documented in film. Bosnia, Uganda, Darfur and other acts of genocide have been televised, and mesmerized, the world has watched on the six o'clock news. But how many more genocides will it take for the international community to put a stop to such crime? History keeps repeating in the most horrendous way.

The Armenian Genocide has left a permanent mark that bleeds through history pages and denying it will not change history. To explain it away as unfortunate atrocities of war doesn't change the fact that 1.5 million Armenians were executed. If the Armenian Genocide had been recognized early on, perhaps the world community would have been pro-active in preventing the genocides the followed.

In The Hague, the question frequently asked is "when does ethnic cleansing become genocide?" And I ask, does it really matter? A crime against humanity need not be further defined. It is a crime against all of us.