© 2024 Boise State Public Radio
NPR in Idaho
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Apple's latest iOS (17.4) is preventing our livestreams from playing. We suggest you download the free Boise State Public Radio app & stream us there while we work to troubleshoot the issue.

Artistic Response To Graffiti At Idaho Anne Frank Memorial

Kyle Green
/
Idaho Statesman

The recent vandalism at the Idaho Anne Frank Memorial triggered a direct response in the form of a performance called Letters From Anne and Martin, which will be taking place Wednesday evening.

Dan Prinzing, Executive Director of the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights, has organized a play, Letters From Anne and Martin, in response to the defacing of the Anne Frank Memorial.

“On the mornings of May 9, 10, 11 and 12 we discovered anti-Semitic and racist taggings had occurred in various locations throughout the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial.”

An active investigation underway looking into the vandalism, which is now being called a hate crime.

The Executive Director of the New York based Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect, Steven Goldstein, reached out to Prinzing at the Wassmuth Center.

“Let us come to Boise and stand with you,” Prinzing recalls Goldstein saying. “He offered that he would bring his two best actors.”

Prinzing sees the hate crime as a teachable moment. He believes it can highlight the power of words to belittle certain groups within our community.

The play includes excerpts from Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter from a Birmingham Jail and The Diary of Anne Frank.

“We use her story to look at really, how does injustice begin?” Prinzing says. “And often the pattern is, it begins with language.”

The play is Wednesday evening on the Boise State campus in the Special Events Center. Attendance is free and parking will be available for a small fee.

For more local news, follow the KBSX newsroom on Twitter @KBSX915

Copyright 2017 Boise State Public Radio

You make stories like this possible.

The biggest portion of Boise State Public Radio's funding comes from readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

Your donation today helps make our local reporting free for our entire community.