New York – Defying Uncaring Image, New York Subway Riders Erase Swastikas From Car

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    Commuters came together to remove antisemitic messages from a Manhattan train in New York (Gregory Locke)New York, NY – The tale of the strangers aboard a New York subway car who teamed up this weekend to scrub away neo-Nazi graffiti went viral on Sunday, in an incident that highlighted a recent rise in hate and bias crimes reported around the country.

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    Passengers said on social media that when they boarded a subway car on Saturday night they found someone had drawn messages in black marker targeting Jews and Muslims and praising Adolf Hitler, the German leader responsible for the Holocaust.

    “The train was silent as everyone stared at each other, uncomfortable and unsure what to do,” attorney Gregory Locke wrote later in a Facebook post.

    Then, he added, “One guy got up and said, ‘Hand sanitizer gets rid of Sharpie. We need alcohol.’ He found some tissues and got to work.”

    The Nazi symbolism was gone within two minutes, he added.

    Locke’s Facebook post had been shared more than 354,000 times as of Sunday afternoon.

    The cleanup was not a planned event but an example of spontaneous unity in a metropolis that prides itself on diversity, passengers said.

    Those who joined the effort were “satisfied in just doing the right thing,” another of them, chef Jared Nied, told CNN.

    The number of hate and bias incidents reported across the United States jumped in the days immediately after President Donald Trump’s election victory in November.

    Early Saturday morning, the large front window of the Chicago Loop Synagogue was smashed and swastika stickers affixed to the building’s front doors.

    Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner condemned the attack in a statement on Sunday. The Chicago Police Department described the suspect as a white male wearing dark clothing and a dark mask.

    The subway incident was reported on Sunday to the New York Police Department, which is investigating it as a possible hate crime, Sergeant Jessica McRorie said.

    The cleanup happened on a subway train near the Lincoln Center arts complex on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, McRorie said.

    New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday a similar incident happened in recent days, when a passenger on a different train spotted a swastika scrawled over an image of an American flag. The passenger, whom Cuomo did not name, used a marker to turn the symbol into a box with four quadrants and wrote in the letters L-O-V-E.

    “This is what New Yorkers do – we turn hate into love,” Cuomo wrote on Twitter.


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    12 Comments
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    blubluh
    blubluh
    7 years ago

    Wasn’t there a plan years back to install monitored video cameras in subway cars for the protection of riders against crimes? Did that idea get tossed due to budget constraints or does monitoring not really help?

    ralph1527
    ralph1527
    7 years ago

    Because it was regarding Jews , we will not hear any noise !!!!

    Easygoing770
    Easygoing770
    7 years ago

    There’s also a swastika on the 34th street entrance to the Citibank at 7th ave. I’ve mentioned it to the management. Been there for about three weeks. seems like nobody really cares..

    yankie
    yankie
    7 years ago

    Where is Hikind saying, “this is an outrage”.

    Haimov
    Haimov
    7 years ago

    ppNever saw it be. Is it a resukt of Trump election?!

    StevenWright
    Member
    StevenWright
    7 years ago

    Post signs saying “Nazis belong on gallows”

    bubble
    bubble
    7 years ago

    Where is our “dear chuckie” this sunday morning? busy defending the illegals but not the people who keep him in office.

    Buchwalter
    Buchwalter
    7 years ago

    Under Obama this did n happen but under your savior Donald Ducky, impeach him

    7 years ago

    Wherer is the JDL when we need them?