The legacy of the Armenian Genocide is woven into the fabric of America.
I found a greater identity with my own emotions in the Armenian culture as I grew older, as well as from the beginning, although I didn't know anything about it.
No, no, I didn't know him. He lost his mind around 1917 because of the tragedy of the Armenians.
On my father's side, I'm descended from immigrants, one of whom was a Syrian refugee from the Armenian genocide, and my mother was an immigrant from Germany whose visa had expired and, for a year and change, was undocumented here in the U.S.
But I am Armenian and I understand what it is to lose a country and lose a family and have massacres and genocides and everything against my people.
You can talk about Holocaust denial, but it's really marginal for the most part. What is compelling about the Armenian genocide, is how it has been forgotten.
The reality is that most of North America knows next to nothing of the 20th century's first genocide - the systematic slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians in the First World War.
The idea of telling the story of the Armenian genocide - or, really, any other genocide - and repeating those stories is really important. I also think it's important to always be exposing the warning signs for what was leading up to it. Those tend to always be the same.
I mean, my dad is half-Armenian, his father is 100%, and I actually think he has Armenian citizenship. Apparently, the Kardashians and me are the big celebrities over in Armenia.
If I was money-motivated, I wouldn't have joined a rock band with three other Armenian guys.
