WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. — The owners of Sweet Jenny's ice cream shop in Williamsville are speaking out after they discovered someone carved a swastika inside one of their bathrooms.
The symbol was discovered sometime over the weekend. It was carved into a wooden frame around the bathroom door.
"The first thing that happened when I saw it was like a profound sadness just because of what it represents," said Sweet Jenny's owner Howard Cadmus.
And at first, he says he was going to let it go.
"But then I thought I think that if I did that, that apathy is worse than the act itself. If I let it just slide, then the person who did it, or people who saw it, would think that it's not a big deal, and it is a big deal," added Cadmus. "My wife and I are both half Jewish, but I mean also we have a very diverse staff. We have people of all sexual persuasions, religions, ethnicities, so I don't know. I don't know if it was intentional in any way or towards us, but it doesn't matter. It is what it is, and I think that's what needs to be addressed."
Cadmus had several offers to help sand the door, but instead, transformed it into a symbol of peace.
"I turned it into four squares and wrote L-O-V-E, or love, in it. So then we'll always see it, and then we can be reminded that, you know, something that might seem so small to someone like, oh, it's, someone came in and they carved something into your wall is a big thing, and it's also a reminder that we all need to be on-guard to be able to, you know, fight hatred in any of its forms no matter how small you think it is," Cadmus says.
He has this message for the person who did it.
"If they're an angry person, I would say you have to let it go. I think the key to life as you live it and as you get older is just love and letting any hatred go because usually, it's born out of ignorance. If it's a kid and they're doing something and they're just being silly, I'd say try to be a little more serious about the decisions you make and the things you do because life is a slippery slope," said Cadmus.
In a Facebook post, owner Howard Cadmus said, "But ever since my wife and I were children we were taught that you have to stand up against hate in any of its forms and you should always strive to promote tolerance and inclusion.
Sweet Jenny's has always been about accepting, helping, caring for, employing and serving everyone in our community.
We decided to post about this incident although it might seem trivial to some, because In the face of hatred, apathy can be interpreted as acceptance by the perpetrators, the public who learns about it, and so on."
The couple received an outpouring of support from the community in the Facebook comments.
He said in a response to a comment that he will not remove the carving because it will remind people to be vigilant against hate.