Baltimore School for the Arts responds to antisemitic graffiti with awareness efforts
BALTIMORE – A swastika drawn on a bathroom mirror spurred a series of emails from administrators and actions at the Baltimore School for the Arts.
The story was first reported by The BSA Muse, the school’s student newspaper.
“It was a moment of terror for me,” said Eliyah Burg, a BSA senior and founder of the school’s Jewish Student Group. “I was scared for myself. I was scared for the other students. It is my hope that whoever did it did not know what they were doing.”
Students say the graffiti first popped up in late September, after the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah.
The school’s executive director sent a pair of emails about the graffiti, the school has posted QR codes around the school to report hate, and the school brought the student body together for small groups to discuss the hate speech, Burg said.
BSA hosted a Holocaust survivor for a school-wide assembly Friday.
“We are in a community that really supported us as a whole,” freshman Shamir Burg said. “We’re hoping to counter this hateful graffiti with our own graffiti that is designed for and by the students as a reminder of what our true values are.”
Eliyah Burg says educating people is the key to overpowering the hateful symbol and student groups are also planning an art project to combat the graffiti.
There is no indication from school officials it has found the person responsible for the graffiti. A City Schools spokesperson Monday said the district is looking into the graffiti incidents.
