Wasmas Human Rights Center was founded in 1996 with the intention of building the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial, but the center’s latest project includes building a new two-story human rights education center.
Located next to the Anne Frank Memorial, this new building includes a memorial visitor center, a VR tour of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, and public restrooms on the first floor. The second floor will be a human rights classroom equipped with conference rooms and a research library.
“This will be a one-of-a-kind human rights education center on the grounds of the one-of-a-kind Human Rights Memorial,” said Dan Prinzing, executive director of the Wasmas Human Rights Centre. . “Since we are an education center, you may not see us leading the march. Our goal is to enable others to participate … we are all protect and promote human rights for and show how each of us has human rights [can be] He is a hero who fights against injustice. ”
Being an ‘upstander’ is one of the main messages the Wasmooth Center hopes to spread. An “upstander” is someone who acts when they see injustice in the world, not bystanders.
“People who have gone through[Wasmus’]education program will understand the language of being upstander: embracing an approach of individual intervention to confront hate-based ideologies.” college political science program. “It’s not about being a Democrat or a Republican. It’s about standing up for the individual, natural rights that each person is given at birth.”
Construction on the new education center will begin by mid-October and is expected to be completed and open to the public by August 2023, Prinzing said.
The education center was named the Philip E. Butt Building after Philip Butt, who served as Governor of Idaho from 1995 to 1999. He successfully enacted workers compensation for Idaho farm workers.
“Governor. Butt has championed human rights in Idaho, advocated for ‘Add the Words,’ and acknowledged that there should be no discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” Prinzing said. “The Bat family didn’t donate to make this happen. It’s our way of honoring those who have influenced their actions.”
The Anne Frank Memorial in downtown Boise opened to the public in 2002 and is the only memorial in the United States. Prinzing explained that the idea for a permanent memorial was born after a traveling Anne Frank exhibit stopped in Boise and more than 50,000 people came to see it.
Elise Ledesma | Arbiter
“Something about Anne Frank’s story really resonated[with the community],” Prinzing said. “It was her hope for humanity and her clear explanation of what was happening to them simply because they were a targeted group.”
The Anne Frank Memorial has become a famous Idaho tourist attraction with more than 120,000 visitors each year, but the site is often plagued by vandalism and hate speech. In 2020, the memorial was defaced with Nazi stickers, and most recently he had similar anti-Semitic graffiti plastered around the memorial in late 2021.
Idaho still has a significant presence of white supremacists, with over 60% of all hate crimes in the state being racially or ethnically motivated, according to Justice Department data. Combating this kind of violence and ignorance through ‘awareness’ and ’empathy’ is one of the main objectives of the education center.
“The existence of individuals who have adopted hate-based ideologies is not far away. It’s here and here in Idaho,” Castellano said. “There is a wave of radicalization going on in this country that fosters hate-based ideologies that justify and even demand political violence.”
Prinzing made it very clear that while the construction of the new Human Rights Building would attract unnecessary attention, it would not prevent them from carrying out their mission, as there would be significant public support. E. Butt’s building was made possible only through public donations from both businesses and individuals.
Wasmus Center has raised $4.7 million out of its $5.5 million goal. This included donations from Scentsy, the Idaho Blue Cross, Micron and others.
“[It’s] It is worth acknowledging the uniqueness of both the Human Rights Memorial and this Human Rights Education Center, which will be a beacon of light for the community,” Prinzing said. We are making a statement that education has value and support.”
Comments
Post a Comment