— Files Federal Civil Rights Complaint over Illegal Discrimination
WASHINGTON, DC – The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) filed a federal civil rights complaint today with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) over Dr. Mehmet Oz’s reckless scapegoating against Americans of Armenian heritage – as part of a strategic ANCA advocacy and media campaign that generated a growing nationwide wave of intense opposition to Dr. Oz’s racist fear-mongering.
The complaint, filed on January 30, builds on immediate ANCA mobilization following Dr. Oz’s January 27-28 posting of a video on official Health and Human Services social media accounts that ethnically profiled Armenian-owned businesses in Los Angeles’ Van Nuys neighborhood. ANCA’s swift response triggered a cascade of condemnation from California Governor Gavin Newsom, who filed his own civil rights complaint, and Congressional, state, and local leaders who denounced the ethnic scapegoating. Oz serves as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
ANCA Sounded the First Alarm
Within minutes of Dr. Oz posting his video, ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian publicly called out this discriminatory conduct: “Dr. Oz is painting Armenians with a broad brush, tarring our entire Armenian American community for the alleged crimes of a few individuals. This sort of ethnic scapegoating against Americans of Armenian heritage is as toxic as it is dangerous, all the more so when done by a dual Turkish citizen – an unapologetic genocide denier who served proudly in Turkey’s armed forces. More evidence that the ANCA was right to keep Dr. Oz out of the U.S. Senate in 2022.”
ANCA Policy Director Alex Galitsky responded that Dr. Oz was “targeting the Armenian community with the same vile dehumanizing rhetoric we saw fuel the collective punishment of Minnesota’s Somalian community,” a statement picked up by the New York Sun.
The ANCA Western Region swiftly condemned Dr. Oz’s actions in an official statement. “Public officials carry a special responsibility to uphold both the letter and the spirit of the Constitution,” stated Oshin Harootoonian, Chairman of ANCA’s Western Region, in remarks covered by CBS News. “When enforcement rhetoric drifts toward ethnic generalizations, it weakens civil rights protections and puts entire communities at risk. Armenian Americans, like all Americans, deserve equal justice under law – nothing less.”
ANCA Western Region Community Coordinator Garen Jinbachian slammed Dr. Oz’s scapegoating of Armenian Americans on Los Angeles local television networks NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, and KTLA. “The motives are to hit the Armenian community in LA, and we will not stand for it,” Jinbachian told Fox11 News.
