Gregory Locke, Jared Neid, and a few other civilians riding New York’s subways on February 5th, 2017 had helped to clean off hateful graffiti that was made on the doors and windows. When Gregory Locke a few of his friends got onto the subway they noticed there was an off setting. When he looked around he saw that there was very hateful messages and images written/drawn in sharpie in the subway car.

Erin Johnson said, “I think graffiti is bad if you are doing it for hateful reasons. They should not paint on buildings, subways, or anything without permission.” Some of the graffiti said things like “Destroy Islam,” “Heil Hitler,” and “Jews belong in the oven.” People had also drawn swastikas in the subway cars.

The passengers in the car looked as if they were uncomfortable and they did not know what to do once they saw the awful graffiti. A chef from a Manhattan restaurant, Jared Neid, told Locke they needed hand sanitizer or alcohol to get rid of the sharpie graffiti. Locke said many other passengers began to look through their pockets, bags, and purses to find something that would help get rid of the hateful sharpie on the subway car.

Locke said, “It was very uplifting to see everyone come together like that.” Bill Clinton daughter, Chelsea Clinton, tweeted, “We will not let hate win. And, another reason to carry hand sanitizer,” along with a photo of Locke Facebook post about the incident. Once the passengers worked together to erase the hate-filled graffiti off of the subway car’s windows and doors, they felt much better and continued their ride.

There will be people in the world who will say, write, text hateful things about certain races, religions, or genders, but there will also always be people who will come together to put an end to that. Gregory Locke, Jared Neid, and many other civilians took charge to erase hate-filled Nazi graffiti on a New York subway car.