The Philadelphia Jewish Voice September 2005 > Community > Emblem

EXIT SWASTIKA, ENTER CONFEDERATE EMBLEM

A few people who live or spend time in New Jersey's river towns must drink their water directly from the Delaware River.

On two trips to New York via the New Jersey Transit River Line, I spotted a large red swastika spray-painted on a concrete underpass a quarter-mile south of the Bordentown train station. The light-rail River Line trains run from Trenton to Camden.

The New Jersey Jewish News subsequently quoted a deputy police chief from Bordentown Township, Frank Nucera, who said the swastika was painted over and the New Jersey Department of Transportation will be contacted "so they can remove it completely."

A few days after the story appeared, I was riding the train home to Philadelphia and observed that the swastika had indeed been painted over.

Several miles south, as the train approached the Delanco station, I spotted a large Confederate emblem draped over a fence outside a private home.

Unfortunately, there are no legal means I know of to stop anyone from displaying this emblem on private property. Maybe the owner should just switch to bottled water.