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Memphis morality
By Garen Yegparian
We’re not talking about the capital of the Old Kingdom of
ancient Egypt, but about an allegedly more modern time and
place, the capital of the 16th joiner of the union known as
the United States of America, reputed home of human rights
advocates. Perhaps Tennessee wants to try its hand at
secession once again, or at least its 9th Congressional
District (CD) does.
Despite the separation of centuries, the two Memphises may
share more than their names. Their attitude towards human
life may be similar. The ancient Memphians felt no qualms
about killing people to bury with their dead royals. The
modern Memphians don’t care about the murder of 1.5 million
people and blithely supported a leading congressional denier
of the Armenian Genocide, Steve Cohen.
Even if the arguments posted by locals on various web
locations, that the genocide has nothing to do with the 9th
CD in time and place, are taken as true for a moment,
doesn’t the moral makeup of the man they choose to represent
them have some bearing on that decision? How can someone
who’s got Holocaust connections, who champions reparations
for slavery, and generally seems to support much of what is
the best for most people, be a genocide denier? Shouldn’t
this make a voter think twice about how fast Cohen would
sell them out? How many of his positions are matters of
convenience vs. conviction?
We were fortunate that documentarian and independent
journalist Peter Musurlian went to the scene of the
impending crime a few days before the 9th CD’s Aug. 7
primary election. Besides getting material for his upcoming
piece on the Cohen-Nikki Tinker race, he became news simply
by sticking up for his rights.
Musurlian requested an interview with Cohen, and didn’t even
get the courtesy of a rejection. On National Night Out, he
found Cohen at a gathering and managed to fire off pointed
questions at the denier. Unsurprisingly, he got no response.
Except at one point, the “Member of Congress” broke out in
song—his version of USC’s fight song, making something of a
fool of himself.
The next morning, Cohen called a press conference at his
home. Musurlian went and was ultimately denied access. Makes
sense right? Call a press conference and disallow media you
don’t favor. Sounds positively dictatorial. I wonder if
Cohen is getting his training in autocracy from his friends
in Ankara. In the process, Steve the Denier gets up from his
sofa and proceeds to shove Musurlian out the door. Then, he
tells his staff to throw Musurlian’s tripod (which had
gotten left in the house) at Musurlian. These are the kinds
of dignified behaviors we’ve all come to expect from the 435
members of the House of Representatives, right? This was
caught on camera and was leading news that night in Memphis!
As if his assault wasn’t enough, the hate speech about
“these Armayneeians (sic)” emanating from this legislative
leader would have the ACLU, NAACP, Amnesty International,
and any other rights organization calling for Cohen’s head
if it was about any other group. Plus, he said Armenians
should go back to California and EMILY’s List (this
organization too had endorsed Tinker) back to Washington and
New York. So it would seem our denier resents “outside”
interference in “his” district.
Let’s forget about the fact that he is running for
reelection to an office where his votes impact the entire
U.S. Let’s even forget the fact that all kinds of political
organizations and individuals get involved in all manner of
races across the country at all levels of government. Let’s
grant, for a moment, that Steve the Denier is entitled to
his own petty, untrammeled fiefdom where no one from the
outside has a right to get involved. Then why does he take
the endorsement of “outside” organizations and individuals?
NARAL, JStreet, and Sierra Club are hardly Memphis-based
organizations, nor are Nancy Pelosi and Jesse Jackson Jr.
local politicians.
But that’s not all. For someone who resents outsiders, and
based on his comments, Californians, New Yorkers, and
Washingtonians (D.C.) in particular, he sure has no qualms
about taking money from outsiders. From the Federal
Elections Commission website (which only lists contributions
of $200 or more), we learn that of the $941,041 “Local”
Steve has raised, $210,071, or 22.3 percent, came form
outside of Tennessee. These funds came from 1,286
contributions, of which 220 (17 percent) came from out of
state, with 27 from California ($27,450), 30 from New York
($17,003), and 31 from D.C. ($37,450). You’ll note that a
lower proportion of the number of contributions from outside
implies that those came in bigger chunks—uh-oh outside money
buying him out! So Denier Cohen is also good at double
standards, too.
If you want to see some of Cohen’s antics, visit
www.youtube.com/watch?v= TiOpEpGAhHM.
Unfortunately, Cohen won the primary. And, in a heavily
Democratic district, he’s on his way back to Congress. What
are we as the primary sufferers of his Turkophilia to do?
Let’s keep at him. If it’s legal, let’s have a permanent
picket posted outside his office in the Longworth House
office building. Let’s keep entering comments on
Memphis-based news sites and blogs. Let’s pursue criminal
action against him with the local authorities for his
assault on Peter Musurlian. Let’s support Musurlian and
encourage him to file a civil suit for the same offense.
Let’s contact his endorsers and urge them to withdraw their
support. Let’s picket his home on April 24th. Let’s pursue
action in the House of Representatives, first in the ethics
committee, but through any other means as well. Let’s face
it; we dropped the ball with two-faced denier Jane Harman.
Let’s not let Steve Cohen off the hook. Every elected
official should realize that we’re prepared to make life
miserable for them if they choose to become accomplices to
Genocide denial by Turkey.
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