Michigan governor approves Armenian Genocide education

PanARMENIAN.Net - Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on Tuesday, June 14 signed a house bill – Genocide Education: Governor's Advisory Council & Curriculum and Assessment – mandating the teaching of genocides, reported the Armenian Assembly of America.

"Our next generation of leaders needs to have the wherewithal to recognize and help prevent widespread harm to their fellow men and women," Snyder stated.

Thanks to the leadership and efforts of the Armenian Genocide Education Committee (AEGC), Assembly Michigan Director John Jamian, and the entire community, the Genocide Education bill is now a law.

The bill, sponsored by Representative Klint Kesto, amends the Revised School Code and requires that Michigan's social studies curriculum in high school and state-wide assessment program include instruction and testing about genocides, including the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide. In addition, the bill establishes the Governor's Council on Genocide and Holocaust Education as a temporary commission. The 15-member council, set up by Governor Snyder, would be advisory and privately funded.

Furthermore, the Michigan school board will promote "engendering and coordinating events, activities, and education that will appropriately memorialize the victims of the Armenian Genocide, such as observance of the Michigan Days of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide."

In addition to the legislation in Michigan, this year the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) included the Armenian Genocide in its planned curriculum as part of its mission to develop materials and lesson plans for genocide education in elementary, middle, and high schools.

Michigan follows six other U.S. states that have approved genocide curriculum mandates, including Illinois, California, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey.