The appearance recently of a billboard in the North End dismissing the Armenian genocide as historical fact was deeply troubling (“Armenian genocide billboard removed,’’ Metro, April 8).

What made it all the more disturbing was that it was placed so close to Armenian Heritage Park, just days after Serzh Sargsyan, president of Armenia, visited Boston; days before the Third Annual Walk Against Genocide concludes at the park; and three weeks before the day we commemorate the Armenian genocide.

However, in the days and years to come, it will not be the billboard’s message I remember, but rather the message sent by Armenian-Americans and our non-Armenian brothers and sisters. In the hours after it went up, there was a unified condemnation of the billboard. Members of the Armenian-American community set up phone banks and took to social media, as did countless others.

Whether it was the Anti-Defamation League of New England saying the billboard was “just as offensive as one denying the Holocaust,’’ or the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston calling it “a disturbing affront to the Armenian community and to all decent people in Boston,’’ condemnation from individuals and groups was both swift and passionate.

At a time in this country when so many are focused on issues that divide us, the incredible response to this billboard reinforces to me that there is so much more that unites us. And that is the most potent antidote to all who seek to deny and divide.

Peter J. Koutoujian

Medford

The writer is sheriff of Middlesex County.