Vandals deface Idaho Black History Museum with 'n*gger' racial slur
The Idaho Black History Museum in Boise was defaced with a racial slur this week.
Museum President Phillip Thompson told the Idaho Statesman that he was preparing to go to a meeting when he discovered the N-word written in fresh snow on the roof of a shed.
In a Facebook post, Thompson shared photos of the graffiti, calling it "apropos of the current racial climate."
“I kind of chuckled and took a picture to send to the masses,” he said to the Statesman. “Me cleaning it up, wiping it up, serves no purpose... You can’t run from it, hide from it and be fearful.”
Thompson recalled that his mother, state Rep. Cherie Buckner-Webb, had a cross burned in her yard when she was growing up. He said that the latest vandalism was “a microcosm of what we’re going through as a country.”
The last act of vandalism that Thompson remembered was a swastika carved into one of the museum's doors 15 years ago.
Thompson said that he wasn't shocked by the incident, noting that some people thought the election of Barack Obama in 2008 would lead to a "post-racial American." Thompson found that idea "asinine."
“That doesn’t erase 400 years of racial oppression,” he said.