Languages in LA

Little Armenia has their own web page, littlearmenia.com, a truly complete guide to Armenian restaurants, services, churches, etc in Hollywood, Los Feliz, Glendale, Burbank, and Weho. (Weho is West Hollywood, our me-too response to New York’s Soho district.)

Armenians are an interesting bunch for a mid-western white girl like myself. I peer at them often with fascination. This is a group that is in no danger whatsoever of forgetting their culture. Armenian students who cannot remember times tables can still recite every detail of the Armenian genocide. Let me tell you, they know when, where, who, how many, everything. There are Armenian rap songs about it, which they listen to and get fired up about every year around the anniversary of the event.

This in and of itself is not necessarily unique, many of my Hispanic students also show a marked preference for and loyalty to the country of their parents’ birth, and consider American culture of secondary importance. But Armenians, from what I have seen so far, are holding on to their culture without evincing hostility to American culture, which is not always the case with other nationalities.

When the protests erupted last year against pending anti-immigration laws, the latent hostility and frustration in the Hispanic population was manifest. My Mexican students were chanting Si Se Puede!! and waving Mexican flags and yelling “Viva la Raza!” (the sort of chant that only dark-skinned minorities are allowed to utter.) My Armenian students looked on with mild curiosity.

I don’t know if Armenian culture simply has no ax to grind with America, or if they feel compatible with white capitalist culture. But for whatever reason, Armenian-Americans are the benign face of multi-culturalism, where diversity means cool ethnic restaurants and traditional dances in exotic costumes. I confess, I like the Armenian vibe. It’s not threatening. I’m sure this means I’m a bourgeois pig.

Oh well.