Anti-Armenian Hate Material Distributed Near Glenoaks Elementary School
Hate Incident Comes at Kick Off of Inaugural Western Armenian Dual Language Immersion Program
GLENDALE—The Armenian National Committee of America Glendale Chapter strongly condemned the anti-Armenian hate material distributed in recent days throughout the residential neighborhood surrounding Glenoaks Elementary School.
The chapter is in contact with Glendale Unified School District officials and the Glendale Police Department to ensure that the incident is fully investigated and that those responsible are identified and held accountable.
The material was designed to resemble a one-hundred-dollar bill and folded so that it would appear to be dropped currency, inviting residents and children to pick it up from sidewalks and lawns. When unfolded, the reverse displays the word “STUPIDIANS” in the colors of the Armenian flag, along with the message “THIS IS AMERICA NOT STUPID ARMENIA.”
The timing and location are particularly troubling. This week, Glenoaks Elementary launched the nation’s first Western Armenian Dual Language Immersion Program, a historic milestone for the Armenian American community and for the preservation of Western Armenian language and culture for future generations.
“Our community worked for years to make the Western Armenian Dual Language Immersion Program a reality, and this week we should be celebrating what that means for our children and future generations,” said ANCA Glendale Chair Lucy Petrosian.
“Instead, families are finding hateful material scattered in the very neighborhood where these children walk to school. Our children deserve to learn their language, celebrate their heritage and feel safe doing so. We expect this incident to be taken seriously, fully investigated, and those responsible held accountable,” Petrosian added.
ANC Glendale notes that this incident is the latest in a series of acts directed at Armenians in Glendale and across the region. In recent years, hate flyers have been posted at Armenian churches and community institutions, and Armenian schools have been vandalized. Each of these incidents has been publicly condemned, yet in nearly every case no one has been held accountable. That pattern of impunity is precisely what emboldens the next person to commit another act of hate.
Glendale is home to one of the largest Armenian communities in the world. Those who distributed these hateful flyers did so anonymously and under cover of night, in the expectation that the community would absorb the insult quietly and move on. The community’s voice will be loud and clear against this hate-inciting anti-Armenian speech.
ANC Glendale thanks the principal and staff of Glenoaks Elementary School for their quick attention to this hate incident. ANC Glendale is ready to support the school district and the Glendale Police Department in any way needed as they address this issue.
We urge any resident who has found this or similar material to report it to the Glendale Police Department and to notify the chapter so that every incident is documented and brought to authorities’ attention.
