New Yorkers work together to scrub anti-Semitic graffiti from subway
When Jared Nied stepped onto a No. 1 train at Times Square Saturday night and spotted hate speech scribbled in permanent marker across the car, he couldn’t just stand there and stare at it.
Instead, the New Yorker found a way to erase it — and he had help.
Riders watched as Nied closely examined the graffiti, which covered the train car’s subway maps with Nazi symbols, swastikas and hate speech.
“The woman sitting opposite from me under the map must have read it on my face, because she just looked at me, goes: “I know. Isn’t it awful? I mean, maybe there’s some way to erase it?” Nied told CBS New York.
Then it hit him. Nied began asking fellow passengers for hand sanitizer, tissues — anything that could possibly help remove the markings.
His request wasn’t ignored. Dozens of people reached into their purses and patted their pockets to find the items he requested, and then they got to work.
Within three minutes, Nied said the graffiti was gone, thanks to a group of a few dozen strangers.
Subway rider Gregory Locke praised Nied for taking a stand.
“I got on the subway in Manhattan tonight and found a swastika on every advertisement and every window,” Nied wrote in a Facebook post that has since gone viral with more than 445,000 shares. “The train was silent as everyone stared at each other, uncomfortable and unsure what to do.”
Locke recalled the moment Nied took charge: “Hand sanitizer gets rid of Sharpie. We need alcohol,” he yelled.
“I’ve never seen so many people simultaneously reach into their bags and pockets looking for tissues and Purell,” Locke said.
Nied said it was an unbelievable feeling to know that everyone wanted the messages gone just as much as he did.
“Just unified — which is… that’s one word I would not use to describe America today,” Nied told CBS New York, “like, unified — just powerful.”
This isn’t the first time New Yorkers have worked together to remove hateful graffiti. Two days before the No. 1 train incident, a passenger on a B train noticed a swastika drawn on an American flag. So, the subway rider turned the swastika into a box, filled in with the word “love.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tweeted a picture of the graffiti, saying, “That’s what New Yorkers do. We turn hate into love.”
This is what New Yorkers do - we turn hate into love. And we wont back down -not now, not ever. #TurnHateIntoLove pic.twitter.com/yVEsTY2aGc
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) February 5, 2017
“America thanks you,” one Twitter user responded to Gov. Cuomo’s image.
“That is the spirit of New Yorkers,” another added.
Nied has been overwhelmed by the response to his quick-thinking move that rid the subway of the anti-Semitic speech, and he’s glad.
“I’m honestly not sure what to say other than that I was just doing the right thing, the thing that needed to be done,” Nied wrote on Facebook Sunday. “[But] I’m thrilled this has gotten so big because I hope, in some small way, I can teach the world how to be better.”