<p>This past year saw a resurgence in conversations about race and power in the West; particularly here in the United States. We reflect with our guest Kohar Avakian, an American Studies Ph.D student at Yale University, on Armenian Racial Identity. Armenian identity is layered and complex, as our exile has forced us to become citizens of the world. Having an immense and beautiful diaspora also means having nuanced interpretations of what that Armenian identity looks like - most notably, Armenian racial identity. In the Cartozian Case of 1924, Tatos Cartozian was initially denied citizenship in the U.S, after physically arriving in court and being deemed not white. Upon contesting, he was given citizenship under the pretense that Armenians were majority Christian and the expectation that they would be able to assimilate right away. Important historical bookmarks like these help contextualize the evolution of Armenian racial identity and inform how we and others view our own identity, today.</p>