NBA All-Star Ray Allen: Why I’m On The Board Of The U.S. Holocaust Museum

Former NBA All-Star Ray Allen is on the board of the U.S Holocaust Memorial Museum. Image by U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

By Aiden Pink May 1, 2017

Ten-time NBA All-Star Ray Allen was sworn in last week to serve on the board of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. Allen, who was named to the position by former President Obama, is not only a two-time NBA champion and one of the greatest shooters of all time — he’s also passionate about Holocaust education.

When Allen learned about the Holocaust in college, “everything was like a shock to my system to understand this could take place and people didn’t really do anything about it,” he told the website The Undefeated on Friday. “It did something to my soul to be more cognizant of people around me. Care more about the next person.”

Allen first visited the museum in 1998 after being encouraged by his then-team’s owner, Sen. Herb Kohl. “I was blown away,” he remembered. “I thought, This is a place that everybody should go to….So, I took, from that day forward — every year, whatever team I played on — I would bring them to this museum.”

Later this month, Allen will visit the Auschwitz concentration camp. When it comes to Holocaust education, Allen explained, “I want people to look at something that I post, or something that I say, and then for themselves say, ‘You know what, I should go see that for myself.”

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter at @aidenpink.

Aiden Pink is the Deputy News Editor for the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO