Reader Response - CORINNE HERNANDEZ
Dear Marineh Khachadour, I agree with you that we must learn to accept
differences, however I must say that the town of Glendale has changed a
lot over the past 10 years.
I grew up in Echo Park, which is very close to Glendale. As a
teenager, my friends and I would take the bus from Echo Park to Glendale
to shop at the mall, go to the movies, and hang out at the arcade that is
on Brand Boulevard.
In your letter, you state that immigrants have a right to complain,
well I’m not an immigrant and I think that it is very rude when you go
into various stores around Glendale and the people who work there are
speaking Armenian, they don’t even acknowledge that you are there
(sometimes to me it seems that they don’t care because I am not Armenian)
-- maybe I’m wrong.
And one more thing I notice that all these different articles in the
News-Press never mention the fact that Raul Aguirre death was on May 5,
which is Cinco de Mayo (a Mexican holiday) and the High School was having
a special event. Why didn’t the school put more security in place that
day?
Finally, in your commentary, you say “your violence and gang problems
are not specific to the Armenians and Latinos in Glendale” That is true,
but I notice that Armenian youths walk around with a chip on their
shoulder. And you can’t tell me that those teens dislike the Chicanos.
You know what the funny thing is? The style that Armenian teens wear
is taken from Chicano and African-American gang members (Tommy Hilfger
did not invent this style). I notice that when I am at the Glendale
Marketplace or the mall that when I seen groups of teens, I will see a
Chicanos, Asians, African-Americans and Anglos (male & female) all
together and then I will see Armenians -- and it will be a group of boys
walking around with that chip on there shoulder.
I think Armenians need to get Americanized and get out of their
Middle-Eastern machismo attitudes.
Corinne Hernandez
Glendale