Meet Ramond Takhsh of Assyrian American Association of Southern California

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ramond Takhsh.

Ramond, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My parents fled Iran right after the Iranian Revolution. My father worked for an American company in Tehran, and with the anti-American sentiment rising to a fever pitch where such companies were closing and their employees being rounded up, my parents fled to South Africa and then England.

We are ethnically Assyrian – a small, Semitic people indigenous to present-day northern Iraq, northwestern Iran, southeastern Turkey, and northeast Syria. Because of our ethnic and religious identities, the Assyrian people have been a persecuted people for centuries – more recently, for example, 2/3s of our people were killed in the genocide of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek peoples over 100 years ago.

I started getting educated about my Assyrian identity in college – I co-founded an Assyrian student club at UC Berkeley. After law school, I was inspired to get involved in the local and national level in late 2010 (International Assyrian marches took place after a tragic terrorist attack in Iraq called nearly 60 of our people in a church).

From then on, I wanted to do something more here in Southern California –to help educate the world about our people and its rich history/identity (both the best of times and the worst of times), and to build a sense of community in our people here in Southern California through social events, public outreach, education and so on.

I was elected VP of the Assyrian American Association of Southern California in 2014 and became President in 2016. This is purely a volunteer job, so in the daytime, I have my own law practice along with two colleagues.

Founded on August 1964, the Assyrian American Association of Southern California is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization whose broad mission is to serve and advance the Assyrian-American community by concentrating on a wide spectrum of areas such as cultural and linguistic identity, public/governmental outreach and advocacy, education, arts/literature, youth services, and many others.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of the challenges has been bringing fresh, innovative ideas reflective of a newer generation to a traditional community like ours. For the most part, the ideas have been well-received, but there has been some pushback.

Another challenge is cynicism/negativity. Assyrians are a strong, resilient people — much like any group that has experienced persecution and oppression, psychological trauma kicks in where our people teach themselves (it’s subconscious at this point) not to get too high or too low because we have been disappointed so much.

Assyrian American Association of Southern California, Inc. – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Founded on August 1964, the Assyrian American Association of Southern California is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization whose broad mission is to serve and advance the Assyrian-American community by concentrating on a wide spectrum of areas such as cultural and linguistic identity, public/governmental outreach and advocacy, education, arts/literature, youth services, and many others.

I’ve been the President since 2016. We made it a point to take this organization in a fresh, innovative, well-rounded direction. Kids Summer Camps, Language and History Classes, our Scouts Program, our Student Youth Group, genocide awareness and other Assyrian initiatives at the local, state and federal levels for example.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
One of my proudest moments was on August 7, 2017, during our Assyrian Memorial Day event where we had dozens of elected officials, most notably Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti as our keynote speaker. It marked the first time in the history of our community in the United States that officials at that level participated in such an event.

Another was on April 24, 2018, during the Armenian Genocide March for Justice where I was asked to speak on behalf of the Assyrian community in front of nearly 40,000 people — it was a surreal moment, to say the least.

Contact Info:

• Website: aaaofsc.org
• Phone: 8188068576
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @aaaofsc
• Facebook: facebook.com/aaaofsc
• Twitter: @aaaofsc

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