Someone painted a swastika on an H-Town mom’s garbage can. Here’s how our community is responding.

H-Town resident Esther Cohen-Eskin woke up early in the morning of August 19, 2016, to see a swastika spray-painted on her garbage can. Esther and her family are Jewish. She took to Facebook to share her dismay:

“I walked outside this morning to take out the trash, and on my can someone spray painted a swastika. We have lived here for almost 20 years. I have happily raised my kids and celebrated the openness and safety of this town. I am so saddened by this occurrence…”

Esther was distraught. But then a neighbor brought up her spirits with a little spark of wisdom that lit up the creative fire in Esther. As she explains on Facebook:

“…I was mad, scared and angry, and then our fellow neighbor and one of my dearest friends said, ‘nothing conquers hate more than love.’ So I am asking you, in this neighborhood, (and beyond if you want to share), paint something positive on your trashcan! We can, in our little way, turn this symbol of hate into something beautiful. A flower, a peace sign, an animal, a doodle… anything your imagination can come up with.”

An artist by trade, Esther quickly put her talents to good use. She broke out her paints and set out to obliterate the hate. Here’s the before/after Esther shared, a few hours later:

EskinCan1

Esther’s post is being shared amongst Townies and beyond. Today, some photos of “improved trash” cans have come in, to Esther’s page and the Havertownies Facebook page. Click on the pic for a slide show of 20+ cans so far:

So, Townies, what do you say? Break out your own spray paint and tape, stickers, streamers, whatever you like. Let’s show ’em what we do with trash. 🙂

Send your pics to admin -at- havertownies -dot– com or see us on Facebook. We’ll add them to the slide show!