Take Action now to support Armenian-American Studies scholars and practitioners by sending an email to the California Department of Education (CDE)

Background:

The California Department of Education is currently deciding on an Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC) for California high school students. This model will be taught to California students across the state and is the product of years of struggle and advocacy by educators and practitioners of Ethnic Studies.

We as Armenian-Americans believe it is imperative that Armenian-American Studies is included in the main curriculum. After coalitional advocacy work, Armenian-Americans appear now in the appendix. But we continue to be marginalized in the actual model.

Our children deserve to see their histories reflected and uplifted in their classrooms. Our community in the United States and abroad is under attack, and residents of the U.S. must learn about our lives, histories, and issues.

Armenian-American Studies and all West Asian-American Studies must be included in the ESMC. West Asian-American Studies is Asian-American Studies and is part of the next generation of exciting and empowering work within Ethnic Studies. The CDE must:

• Hear the calls of over 6,000 public comments by Armenian-Americans calling for Armenian-Americans Studies to be in the main curriculum not sidelined to the appendix

• Listen to Ethnic Studies practitioners and include all West Asian American Studies within Asian American Studies, as affirmed by the Association for Asian American Studies

• Write Armenian-American Studies into the ESMC using experts with this specialty who are Ethnic Studies practitioners

• Ground the ESMC in Ethnic Studies guiding principles, grounded in its anti-racist, decolonial history and purpose

Armenian-Americans have long histories of racialization, immigration, refugeehood, as well as legal, educational and linguistic marginalization in California. Ethnic Studies helps young students make sense of their realities. Our students deserve, as the ESMC states, “culturally/community relevant and responsive pedagogies that are both revitalizing and sustaining.”

Support scholars and practitioners by sending an email to the California Department of Education (CDE):

Dear Honorable Members of the CDE,

I write to you today in support of Armenian-American Studies in the ESMC. Our community today is under attack and historically marginalized within the United States. Please do not marginalize our histories in the curriculum.

Armenian-Americans make up over 1 million people in the United States, with the largest community residing in California. Armenian-Americans have a long history of experiences of marginalization, migration, racialization, refugeehood, surveillance, and lack of equitable access to education, health and employment in the United States. Many Armenian-American students are immigrants and refugees, or their children, and English Language Learners. They continue to be impacted by curriculum that marginalizes their histories and needs. We ask you to:

• Hear the calls of over 6,000 public comments by Armenian-Americans calling for Armenian-Americans Studies to be in the main curriculum

• Write Armenian-American Studies into the ESMC using experts with this specialty who are Ethnic Studies practitioners

• Listen to Ethnic Studies practitioners and include all West Asian American Studies within Asian American Studies. West Asian American Studies is Asian American Studies as affirmed by the Association for Asian American Studies

• Ground the ESMC in Ethnic Studies guiding principles, grounded in its anti-racist, decolonial purpose

We urge the IQC and the CDE to center Ethnic Studies Scholars and practitioners in the writing of the model curriculum. As a concerned community member I am calling on you to bring Armenian-American Studies scholars who do Ethnic Studies to the table and incorporate Armenian-American Studies in the main curriculum. Thank you for all your work fighting for more equitable futures for our children.

Thank you,

[Your Name]

*Please note your address will not be shared with anyone nor stored but is necessary to make public comment here.