--- description: New Yorkers riding the subway joined together on Saturday night to remove swastikas and anti-semitic slurs using hand sanitizer title: New Yorkers Team Up to Remove Swastika Graffiti in Subway Car image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # New Yorkers Team Up to Remove Swastika Graffiti in Subway Car Using Hand Sanitizer by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Feb 5, 2017 5:48 PM CUT by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Feb 5, 2017 5:48 PM CUT New Yorkers riding the subway joined together on Saturday night to remove swastikas and anti-Semitic slurs written on advertisements and windows on the train car. A [Facebook post](https://www.facebook.com/gregoryalocke/posts/1279925448727304?pnref=story "undefined") by Gregory Locke showing subway riders wiping away the Nazi symbolism with hand sanitizer and tissues went viral with nearly 400,000 likes by Sunday. “I’ve never seen so many people simultaneously reach into their bags and pockets looking for tissues and Purel,” Locke wrote on Facebook. “Within about two minutes, all the Nazi symbolism was gone.” Even Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, weighed in after seeing the photos. “We will not let hate win,” she [wrote](https://twitter.com/ChelseaClinton/status/828118741728759809 "undefined") on Twitter. “And, another reason to carry hand sanitizer.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4660587/new-york-subway-swastika-hand-sanitizer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4660587/new-york-subway-swastika-hand-sanitizer/"},"headline":"New Yorkers Team Up to Remove Swastika Graffiti in Subway Car Using Hand Sanitizer","datePublished":"2017-02-05T17:48:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:08:43.698Z","description":"The alcohol in hand sanitizer helps wipe away ink","url":"https://time.com/4660587/new-york-subway-swastika-hand-sanitizer/","keywords":["New York","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4660587/new-york-subway-swastika-hand-sanitizer/","name":"New Yorkers Team Up to Remove Swastika Graffiti in Subway Car Using Hand Sanitizer"}}]}] ```