The Root Of Our Problems

[Guest]

I think I'm gonna puke... what happened?

What can we do?

[Guest]

There is something we can do I guess. I got this e-mail today and every little effort makes a difference in my opinion.

 

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MAY 23, 2000

CONTACT: AGBU YOUNG PROFESSIONALS COMMITTEE

(626) 794-7942 OR (626) 568-5902

 

In August 2000, the AGBU Generation Next Mentorship Program will enter its

third year of providing mentorship to at-risk students attending public

schools in Glendale, California. During the first two years, the program

has successfully achieved its goal of providing positive role models for

Armenian At-Risk Youth. Through one-on-one mentoring, monthly group

activities and parenting seminars, the Generation Next Mentorship Program

has assisted and supported Armenian students who are faced with difficult

choices in today's violent and gang-infested environment. Although the

program has been one of the most successful mentorship programs of its kind

for the past two years, it has only been able to reach a handful of

students due to lack of volunteer mentors. It is now up to the young

Armenian professionals living in Southern California to get involved and

make a difference in the future of our community.

 

Hundreds of Armenian teenagers living in Glendale are turning to a life of

crime and drug use because they lack the guidance they need to realize that

they can grow up to be successful and productive citizens. If you care

about the future of our community, here is your opportunity to make a real

difference. We promise you it will be one of the most rewarding

experiences of your life. To learn more about this valuable program and to

get involved, please attend one of the following two orientation and

registration meetings and hear live testimonials from past mentors and

mentees of how the program has changed their lives.

 

 

ORIENTATION AND REGISTRATION MEETINGS

(PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO ALL INTERESTED ARMENIANS)

 

Wednesday, May 31, 2000, 7:30 p.m.

AGBU Manoogian Demirjian School

Agajanian Auditorium

6844 Oakdale Avenue, Canoga Park, CA

Keynote Speaker: Ms. Hasmik Danielian

Principal, Toll Middle School

 

Monday, June 5, 2000, 7:30 p.m.

AGBU Manoogian Center

Boyadjian Hall

2495 E. Mountain Street, Pasadena, CA

Keynote Speaker: Ms. Alice Petrsossian

Asst. Superintendent, Glendale Unified School District

[Guest]

Interesting topic yet again..

 

I live in LA and see armenian youth wandering on the streets, aimlessly, hopelessly. Coming together in groups, one or two at a time, not going home till absolutely necessary. They're always together, yet always apart. Always alone. You look into their eyes and see nothing. You look into their souls and see despair. They're almost ghost-like: the fringe elements of our society that somehow disappear, fall through the cracks, with no one to watch over them. Our girls are gingerly taken care of, protected, nurtured from a young age. Our boys are left to their devices and sometimes they self-destruct. It touches me, saddens me and angers me all at the same time. They're lost. Lost without hope. Without dreams. Hopes and dreams: are they not what we live for, at least spiritually?.. .these young guys have been deprived of that very fundamental human emotion, the ability to dream. It's not difficult to understand why they join the gangs, why they kill, why they destroy. It's the only purpose they have in life.

 

Being an armenian woman is difficult, being an armenian man almost impossible, I would think. YOu guys are supposed to be strong, but are given the tools to acquire that strength? I honestly don't think so...

 

and the gang shootings, well..i will never support these boys who would be gangsters, but i can certainly understand them.

 

How can we complain of the moral deterioration of our society, of the rapid proliferation of gangs and gang violence if we do nothing? Which is why AGBU sounds like a teriffic program. Thanks, Sulamik, for bringing it to our attention. I have to admit I had heard about it during one of the Armenian Student's Association meetings on campus, but I think I'm far too cynical sometimes, I didn't think it was realistic. But when our kids are being shot at, when they're dying, something needs to be done.

 

I think THAT is our true duty to our culture: making sure that our kids grow up as they should. I hear spirited talk on campus from fellow students who want to pursue their careers in Armenia, who want to contribute somehow to the development of our culture and our people. Perhaps the greatest impact can be made in the diaspora, however, making sure our younger brothers and sisters don't fall through the cracks. You're right, something CAN be done )

 

gs

[Guest]

Hi guys.

This is very disgusting and sad, but check it out anyway.Los Angeles Times

August 25, 2000, Friday, Home Edition

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA / A NEWS SUMMARY;

3 TEENAGERS INDICTED IN GLENDALE SLAYING

GLENDALE

 

 

Three teenagers have been indicted for murder in the stabbing and

clubbing death of 17-year-old Raul Aguirre, a Glendale high school student,

according to court documents unsealed Thursday.

 

Prosecutors secured an indictment from the Los Angeles County Grand Jury

accusing 18-year-old Karen Terteryan of Glendale, 15-year-old Rafael

Gevorgyan of North Hollywood and 14-year-old Anait Ano Mysran of Los

Angeles of killing Aguirre in a May 5 fight in front of Hoover High School

in Glendale.

 

The two male defendants, Terteryan and Gevorgyan, were also charged with

the special circumstance of killing to further the activities of a street

gang. Police said Aguirre, a senior at Hoover, was not in a gang.

 

The slaying, which occurred after school in front of a crowd of students,

highlighted long-simmering tensions between Armenian Americans and Latinos

in Glendale, according to police. Police have said the two boys, both

alleged members of an Armenian American street gang, attacked Aguirre with

a pocketknife and a tire iron after he tried to break up a fight the youths

had picked with another Latino boy. Terteryan's girlfriend allegedly drove

her co-defendants to the school.

 

Because of their ages when the crime was committed, the maximum sentence

the boys face is life in prison without the possibility of parole. Msyran

faces a minimum sentence of 25 years to life if convicted of murder.

 

The Associated Press.

August 25, 2000, Friday, BC cycle

Three teens indicted for alleged gang killing

LOS ANGELES

 

 

Three teen-agers, including a 14-year-old girl, were indicted for

allegedly stabbing and beating to death a Glendale high school student

during a Cinco de Mayo celebration.

 

A Los Angeles County grand jury indictment returned on Aug. 14 and unsealed

Thursday contends the trio killed 17-year-old Raul Aguirre on May 5 outside

Hoover High School.

 

Authorities say Aguirre was trying to help a former student who was

fighting with some of the defendants. Police said Aguirre was hit in the

head with a crowbar and stabbed four times.

 

The youth he was trying to help survived.

 

Officials believe the altercation resulted from a conflict between Armenian

and Hispanic gangs. Aguirre, however, was not believed to be in a gang.

 

Karen Terteryan, 18, Rafael Gevorgyan, 16, and Anait Ano Msryan, 14, are

charged with murder. Msryan faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

 

The charges against Terteryan and Gevorgyan carry a special circumstance

allegation that the killing was committed "in furtherance of a street

gang."

 

They face life in prison without possibility of parole if convicted.

 

The three, who remain in custody, also were charged with one count each of

attempted murder and one count each of street terrorism.

 

Proposition 21, approved by California voters in March, allowed prosecutors

to try the juveniles as adults without first obtaining a judge's

permission.

[Guest]

Do you think this incident is going to prevent any further violence?

 

 

Sulami

[Guest]

I think this incident is not going to prevent any further violence.

 

To the contrary, I think that it will continue for long time. The reason is not that Armenians, especially "Hayastantsi" or Mexicans are more violent than the others. I think these events are characteristic to any getto. Unfortunately, Glendale (along with some other LA suburbs) has become an Armenian getto.

 

The question, I think, is when is our Armenian population of LA going to realize that to participate in the American Dream they have to discover other cities and states in the United States. They have to realize that there are a lot of opportunities outside California, especially LA. One just has to have open mind, be aggressive, and realize that if he/she has had the courage to come to the United States, there is not much to be scared of outside California.

 

 

 

[This message has been edited by MJ (edited August 29, 2000).]

[Guest]

Recently I read in a newspaper that an Armenian organization is sueing LA Times for giving this kind of criminal reports international pattern. They trying to prohibit LA Times and other mass media to use Armenia, Armenians words when reporting criminal news. There was an open letter to the LA Times staff.

[Guest]

I was browsing some older messages. I am not informed in the circumstances of the establishment of Armenian gang in US.

 

Without knowing the facts, I may just conjecture that the fight between the Latino and Armenian gangs is about the drugs, and the zones of influence, as it is almost always the case between the gangs. The issue is who gets selling where.

 

I remember some seven-eight years ago there was a real war between the Mexican and some Black gangs in Mario Del Ray vicinity. The official word was that the Mexican gang, which used to have good relations with this Black gang, had received an order from the narco-mafia in Mexico to squeeze the blacks out of that local market.

 

I also remember that years ago, in LA County there were groups of Armenian Organized Crime, who were primarily imposing “taxes” on local Armenian small businesses. Don’t know the situation, now.

 

I think the “protection” that the Armenian Gang “gives” to the local Armenian population reminds the protection Don Carlioni used to give to his Italian community.

 

I have resided in West LA for three years. Don’t recall needing protection.

 

 

[This message has been edited by MJ (edited September 01, 2000).]