OPINION:
When U.S. Rep. Randy Fine, Florida Republican, declared earlier this year that “we don’t want Armenians to serve in Congress,” his words hit a personal nerve with the crushing weight of memory.
As an Armenian American and the grandson of Armenian Genocide survivors, I know what happens when elected leaders frame an entire ethnic minority as unfit for full citizenship.
The horrific atrocities of 1915 did not begin with violence in the streets. They began with rhetoric asserting that a specific group was an internal enemy, incompatible with the nation, and unworthy of equal rights.
Mr. Fine’s demand for ethnic exclusion is a direct violation of the constitutional values that define American democracy. Saying that an entire ethnic group should be barred from governing is fundamentally disqualifying for anyone who has taken an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution.
Now that Mr. Fine has secured the Republican primary victory in Florida’s 6th Congressional District, his statements cannot be quietly swept aside as transient campaign noise or words taken out of context as he knew exactly what he meant.
Growing up in the shadow of survivor heritage imparts an acute understanding of state-sponsored exclusion. History teaches us that when discriminatory language is tolerated in the halls of power, it normalizes prejudice and signals to minorities that their place in society is conditional.
What’s more, this rhetoric directly manifests in policy decisions that harm security abroad. Fine supports H.R. 6534, a bill to permanently repeal Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act — a vital safeguard restricting direct U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan.
Repealing this protection following Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of over 120,000 Armenians from Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) rewards foreign aggression while surrendering critical U.S. diplomatic leverage.
When an elected official pairs anti-Armenian domestic commentary with policy efforts that enable hostile autocrats, the underlying intent becomes impossible to ignore.
Article VI of the U.S. Constitution explicitly prohibits religious tests for holding public office, reflecting the core belief that civic participation belongs to all citizens irrespective of lineage. Imposing an ethnic standard violates constitutional equality and reduces democratic service to narrow gatekeeping.
No elected official who advocates for the systemic exclusion of minority groups belongs in Congress. Silence in the face of ethnic prejudice is complicity. Voters and lawmakers across the political aisle must reject ethnic bigotry before it destroys the pluralistic foundation of our democracy.
STEPHAN PECHDIMALDJI
San Ramon, California
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