LEUNG | Checking In

A few days ago, I began seeing numerous people on my Facebook feed “checking in” to Standing Rock Indian Reservation. As of yesterday, over 1.3 million people have done this. I knew this was related to the Dakota Access Pipeline, but I was confused by its direct purpose. Just like people were able to put a French flag banner over their profile pictures to show their solidarity with Paris after the terrorist attack, I assumed this was a similar type of coming together. Checking in to the location on Facebook serves as a way to make a statement against something that is capable of inflicting disastrous consequences.

HAGOPIAN | The Pipeline in Perspective

Armenian-American. This phrase means a great deal to me, but it doesn’t always mean much to others. “I’m Armenian,” I tell people. Often I see a blank stare and I reluctantly add “like the Kardashians.” There’s a very tragic reason why the Armenian race isn’t more widely known; namely that there aren’t that many of us left. Between 1915 and 1923, the Ottoman Turks systematically executed 1.5 million Armenians in an act of genocide.