Martin Luther King Jr. once called a riot “the language of the unheard.” Political violence is often similarly the desperate cry of the frustrated and the ignored. Turkey’s denial of the Genocide—and the US’s collusion in it—had created a potent wellspring of anger and exasperation among Armenians. While some in the Armenian-American community around LA took issue with the violent tactics of this years-long campaign, there was nothing like widespread condemnation of those activists accused of employing them. In fact, many of those arrested became local heroes. As a teenager, I found myself
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