(May 2, 2013) — On the morning of April 23, the topic of the Armenian Genocide rang loud inside the head of many of the Armenian students at Clark Magnet. Already throughout the school, people were wearing shirts commemorating the genocide, which included catchphrases such as “Never forget!” and “Go and ignore it, it’s still genocide!” The fires of the passion for the genocide would become quenched later in the day with guest speaker Raffi Hamparian speaking in the school auditeria. Hamparian is a national board member of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) as chairman of the Western Region. He has served several high level staff positions in the U.S. House of Representatives and is the brother of Aram Hamparian, the ANCA Executive Director. During enrichment, senior Greg Grigoryan, founder of Geopolitics Club, spoke in the auditeria filled with students. Having finished his teleconference with 1988 presidential election candidate Michael Dukakis, Grigoryan mentioned how Dukakis stated that if he had won the election over George H.W. Bush in 1988, he would have recognized the Armenian Genocide. “This is the first time the Armenian Genocide has been mentioned in Geopolitics,” Grigoryan said. “[The Armenian Genocide] has always been a moral issue, not a geopolitical one.” Students during the assembly were shown a newscast from ABC from years back discussing the Armenian Genocide, also known as the Armenian Holocaust. The political side of the genocide was discussed along with how the U.S. is afraid to recognize the genocide due to fear of Turkey becoming invaded by a hostile country. Junior Edward Antonyan then introduced the guest speaker with great praise. Hamparian then began his speech with booming enthusiasm. “I’m not a historian, and I am not here to discuss the history of the genocide,” Hamparian said. “We must discuss the values that must be present, like love and trust.” Hamparian covered several topics, such as why the denial by Turkey is important specific to the Armenians and the human race as a whole, stating how the human races should want to live in a world free of genocide. Junior Allen Dishigrikyan stated great interest in the speech. “It was a very informative talk, the first in its making at Clark Magnet, and Geopolitics is to thank for that,” Dishigrikyan said. “I really liked the introduction that Edward gave.” The main theme that Hamparian got across was that people should be aware what they are protesting on April 24. He told the story of senator William Proxmire, who gave daily speeches on why the United States should ratify the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. “Imagine 100 speeches, then 200 speeches. Then 365 speeches,” Hamparian said. “One speech per day. He did this every day in the Senate for 20 years. 3,211 speeches later, Reagan signs the convention into law. Tomorrow, and throughout the years, people should join in. You have to be that determined.” “Hamparian is a great public speaker,” Dishigrikyan said. “He gave interesting visuals on how courage and determination is for a cause that has been lingering for a century. If it were to continue, it would be due to the will power of the new generation.”