The word “genocide” isn’t thrown around often. President Obama even refused to use it to describe the 1915 Armenian Genocide on its 100th anniversary, despite having promised to do so during his 2008 presidential campaign. Now the government is attaching the loaded term to ISIS in an aggressive political move.

The House of Representatives passed a bipartisan resolution on Monday asking President Obama to label ISIS violence as Yezidi and Christian genocide. Days later, Secretary of State John Kerry let the G-word fly at a news conference.

“My purpose here today is to assert in my judgment, (ISIS) is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control including Yazidis, Christians and Shiite Muslims,” Kerry said.

Genocide is formally defined as the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. For a conflict to be defined as genocide, there must be both intent and physical violence.

The Islamic State’s quest to bring Syria and Iraq to a heel has involved devastating, gut-churning violence against Christians, Yezidis and other minorities. Christians are slaughtered solely because of their faith, and both Christian and Yezidi women have been captured, raped and sold into slavery. ISIS militants record their most graphic executions, including the killing of children, and then gleefully distribute the videos on the Internet.

With so much evidence on the web and so many first-hand accounts, there is not doubt that ISIS is conducting a systematic, brutal Yezidi, Shiite and Christian genocide.

The United States hasn’t declared an international conflict ‘genocide’ since Darfur in 2004.

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, one of the lawmakers who pushed for the United States to recognize this genocide, was pleased with the State Departments fast response.

“I commend Secretary Kerry and the State Department for making this important designation,” Fortenberry said. “The genocide against Christians, Yazidis and others is not only a grave injustice to theses ancient faith communities — it is an assault on human dignity and an attack on civilization itself,” he said. “The United States has now spoken with clarity and moral authority.”

[CNN]