Recognizing the Armenian Genocide.... "Present" - Sack cartoon

[question everything]

See story here

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10598363

[eissa]

1. She messed up with this one

Only feeds into the narrative about her. Note to politicians: genocide is bad; your votes should always reflect that.

[Wounded Bear]

2. This is rather troubling...nt

[Karadeniz]

3. Not good...does she fear Muslims ' being blamed?

[Kaleva]

4. Wonder why the catroonist left out Eddie Johnson (TX) who also voted present?

When a similar bill came up in 2009:

"Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, an eight-term legislator from Dallas, Texas, is attacking U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide as a “one-sided” view of a “historic dispute.”

In a letter circulated on February 25th to all 434 of her House colleagues, she dismissed the Armenian Genocide as an “inter-communal war.”

The Congresswoman’s line of attack, long ago discredited by historians and genocide scholars, is a particularly toxic form of denial that seeks, without any basis in fact, to create parity between perpetrator and victim. Her letter attempts to equate the full force of the Ottoman Empire’s vast military with the unarmed and impoverished Armenian population destroyed by its brutal and systematic campaign of race extermination."

http://asbarez.com/60265/call-texas-congresswoman-who-opposes-genocide-bill/

Also from 2009:

"Bernice Johnson, who circulated a Feb. 25 “Dear Colleague” letter about Schiff’s measure, was asked, “Do you acknowledge that there was a genocide?”

Bernice Johnson initially responded, “I don’t acknowledge, I was not around.”

Pressed further on whether she acknowledges the genocide, Bernice Johnson said, “No, I don’t.”

Reacting to Bernice Johnson’s statements, Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee on America, said, “I am saddened to hear that a member of Congress would say this.”"

https://thehill.com/homenews/news/18702-armenian-genocide-debate-reignites

[Beringia]

6. That is from 2009, so he might not have been concerned with that particular

subject then.

[Kaleva]

8. The cartoon is not from 2009. Congresswoman Eddie Johnson voted "present" in the recent bill.

She also opposed a similar bill back in 2009.

[Beringia]

15. I see, thanks

The cartoon should show both of them. Maybe the cartoonist likes to be a sensationalist, something I am against

[question everything]

10. Because the cartoonist is from the StarTribune - Omar's hometown

[Kaleva]

11. There's been a few threads here talking about Oma's voter but not a peep about Johnson.

[question everything]

12. I don't know anything about Johnson, but Omar set herself up as the protector

of those she perceived as persecuted. So to abstain from such an important vote, and when one realizes - OK, I realize - that the Armenians are Christians, not Muslims, this smack from hypocrisy or just being clueless..

[Stuart G]

5. This is "stupid beyond stupid" And it will define her forever.

There was a story about a principal in some school in the U.S. (Florida) who was fired for not accepting that the Germans killed millions of Jews in concentration camps. He took a stance and was fired. This person has taken the same stance on a different kind of Holocaust. She will be fired too. This is totally unacceptable. No rationalization will work in the principal's case or in Omar's case.

[Beringia]

7. I read her twitter response about this

And it as if she expects everyone to understand her particular stance on this, without any explanation by her. I would think for PR sake alone, she should issue a statement on why she did it this way.

[Pompoy]

9. Something about the Native American Genocide

The bill should have included that, according to her, plus other genocides. Lame excuse.

[MineralMan]

16. She has a point, there.

We have yet to acknowledge that in the United States, but we're happy to acknowledge genocide that took place in Turkey.

That said, all genocidal actions should be condemned, wherever they occur or occurred.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

13. I don't trust religious people like her.

I'm apparently in the minority in this country, which has consistently placed atheists/agnostics as the least favorable people to serve as President in polls.

I worked with a Muslim woman from Turkey who supposedly hated religious intolerance, but I later learned it was only intolerance to HER religion that was unacceptable.

I was home-brewing beer back then, making several kinds of English ales at the time because they were so easy to make without flaws. I wore a shirt to work one day which stated "The Blood of Anglo-Saxons flows through my veins. And sometimes... their beer." Also on the shirt was Saint George's Cross, an old flag of the English.

She complained to the managers that my shirt offended her because it was a "flag of the Crusades."

The (Republican) managers shared her complaint with me, laughing about it. They encouraged me to continue wearing the shirt in the future.

I didn't wear the shirt to work anymore, but I also never spoke to that Muslim woman ever again.

The Crusades from about 1000 years ago?! Seriously?!

[eissa]

14. Right there with you

I feel like her progressiveness ends where her religion begins. You can’t tell me that if the vote were about the Palestinian Nakba, that she would have abstained and stated that the issue should be left “for scholars to decide.”