Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

White House: Displaying The Orphan Rug Would Be An Inappropriate Use

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • White House: Displaying The Orphan Rug Would Be An Inappropriate Use

    WHITE HOUSE: DISPLAYING THE ORPHAN RUG WOULD BE AN INAPPROPRIATE USE OF U.S. GOVERNMENT PROPERTY

    By MassisPost
    Updated: November 13, 2013

    WASHINGTON, DC - In a new twist to efforts to call attention to
    the Armenian genocide, a group of lawmakers has accused the Obama
    administration of blocking a Smithsonian display of a rug woven by
    orphans of the mass killings about a century ago, The Los Angeles
    Times writes.

    The lawmakers have written to President Obama urging him to make
    available the rug, presented in 1925 to President Calvin Coolidge and
    in storage as part of the White House collection, for exhibition. The
    bipartisan group includes more than a dozen representatives from
    California, which has a large Armenian American population.

    The roughly 12-foot-by-18-foot Armenian Orphan Rug was to be featured
    in a Dec. 16 exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington that
    sought to call attention to a new book about the rug by Hagop Martin
    Deranian titled "President Calvin Coolidge and the Armenian Orphan
    Rug." The lawmakers had called a "pivotal icon related to the Armenian
    Genocide."

    The event was cancelled when the White House refused to release the
    rug for display.

    A White House spokeswoman said Tuesday that displaying the rug
    "for only half a day in connection with a private book launch event,
    as proposed, would have been an inappropriate use of U.S. government
    property, would have required the White House to undertake the risk of
    transporting the rug for limited public exposure, and was not viewed
    as commensurate with the rug's historical significance."

    Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) was oneof the lawmakers who had called on the
    Obama Administration to allow exhibition of the "Armenian Orphan Rug"
    at the Smithsonian. "The decision by the Administration to block
    display of the Armenian Genocide rug is as inexplicable, as it is
    hurtful to the Armenian community," Schiff explained. "The rug is
    not only a symbol of the resilience of the Armenian people through
    their darkest days, it also serves as a tangible expression of the
    inherent truth that not only were 1.5 million people killed in the
    first genocide of the 20th Century, but that the American government
    was a central player in efforts to call attention to the plight of
    the Armenian people and provide relief to survivors."

    Schiff continued, "The rug deserves to be on display and the millions
    affected by the genocide deserve the chance to see it - it's my hope
    that the Administration will decide to allow the rug, a symbol worthy
    of the Smithsonian, to be released."

    http://massispost.com/archives/10027

Working...
X