Armenians say hateful acts against them going unreported

The PSA launch happened virtually on Thursday, March 14 and included Robin Toma, the executive director of the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations. Other guest speakers included Vic Gerami, founder of TAAL, Marc Baarart, director of the L.A. District Attorney’s office, and two victims of anti-Armenian hate.

While TAAL and victims of anti-Armenian hate said hate crimes and incidents toward Armenians have gone up, the data shows the hate is largely unreported.

In 2022, only six anti-Armenian hate crimes and incidents were reported, according to Toma.

While hate crimes have generally increased in the most recent report, the number of hate crimes against Armenians — while small — rose 200%, from two in 2021 to six in 2022, according to a L.A. County’s Commission on Human Relations press release. This reflects that many anti-Armenian crimes and hate incidents are not reported.

Toma and Baarart said that reporting hate crimes and incidents is important because it allows for state and county data on which communities are being targeted. This can then help determine what resources need allocating to fight hate.

“We know that if we are to stop the rise in hate, especially now in this period when there’s going to be added animosities and tensions fueled by the presidential campaign,” Toma said.

Toma later added that what happens in our political sphere does show up in hate crime reports.

Gerami said that his nonprofit has seen “a massive increase in anti Armenian hate acts, incidents, and crimes” over the last few years.

Burbank resident Zarik Hacopian shares her anti-Armenian hate incident in a new public service announcement. She encouraged other Armenian people to report hate crimes and incidents. (Photo courtesy of the Truth And Accountability League.)Zarik Hacopian, a TAAL volunteer and one of the victims of an anti-Armenian hate incident, shared about her experience before her public service announcement was shown for the first time.

“I have been in this country 50 years, I have personally experienced bigotry now and then,” Hacopian, a Burbank resident, said. “Many times it was very painful, many times I just ignored it.”

She said in the past four years, there’s been a noticeable increase and that the type of bigotry and language used is “very taunting” and “hurtful.”

In Hacopian’s public service announcement, she said that while she was at a supermarket with her children, a stranger was laughing at her children and then told them to stop speaking their “filthy language.”

“I felt so demeaned, so ashamed and so embarrassed,” she said in her video.

After that incident, her children refused to speak Armenian in public for a long time, she said.

Glendale resident Henrick Vartanian shares his anti-Armenian hate incident he experienced while at work, in a new public service announcement. He encouraged other Armenian people to report hate crimes and incidents. (Photo courtesy of the Truth And Accountability League.)Another victim of a hate incident was Henrick Vartanian. Before his public service announcement was played, he said that he didn’t even feel comfortable telling friends what happened to him until weeks later.

Vartanian was working at a bank in his hometown of Glendale when a customer became irate and began calling him names and said he should be “sent back to where he came from.”

“Culturally or me being a man, I don’t know, I thought, ‘Hey, you should have thicker skin,’ ‘You’re an employee, things happen,’” he said. “And then weeks later, I felt a little more like this was not okay.”

Hacopian and Vartanian encouraged others who have experienced anti-Armenian hate crimes or incidents to report them.

Reporting hate can be done at LAvsHate.org or by calling 211.