Jewish Winnipegger fights hate by removing antisemitic and other offensive graffiti
Avrom Charach says he's removed more than 100 pieces of graffiti people have reported to him
WARNING: This story contains references to and images of antisemitic graffiti.
The first piece of graffiti he removed said "JewSS kill babies," with the two Ss in "JewSS" stylized to look like the insignia of the Schutzstaffel.
"That one took about 14 or 15 minutes," Avrom Charach said. "It was the first one I was doing this way, and we were learning better technique."
After volunteering to remove more than 100 pieces of graffiti all across Winnipeg, Charach said he's cut that time down to about four minutes — so long as the weather is warm enough for the product he uses to work.
Getting rid of a swastika spray-painted on top of a Hydro box in the city's Charleswood neighbourhood took multiple trips in the middle of winter. But Charach said someone has to do it.
"Best-case scenario is you make it so nobody can even tell there is something there before," Charach said.
"It felt pretty good getting rid of that hate where it couldn't be seen. And so the way I look at this is I benefit because every time I remove a bit more hate, I feel a little bit better."
The Winnipeg property manager and proud member of the city's Jewish community has made it his quest to get rid of any graffiti that he and the people who reach out to him deem hateful or offensive.
Taking it on himself
Charach said it all started in May, when he saw complaints about the "JewSS kill babies" graffiti on social media.
"People were getting very worked up about it. I don't blame them. I was a little worked up too," he said.
"I finally said to them, You know what? If you don't want to wait for anyone else to take it off, in my line of work, we have stuff that can remove graffiti."
The requests then came pouring in from organizations and friends asking for help — even at somewhat inopportune times.
"On my anniversary, I actually got a phone call from the executive director of the Jewish community. They had tagged the swastika on a synagogue," he said, referencing an incident at the Ashkenazi Synagogue on Charles Street.
"Happened to be a Friday. So I said to my wife, after we celebrate her anniversary, let's go remove this, so when people go to pray on Saturday, they don't see a hate symbol."
Jewish advocacy group B'nai B'rith Canada is one of the organizations that have been in regular contact with Charach.
'No community' should have to do this: Advocate
Advocacy director Richard Robertson said the Winnipegger's efforts ought to be commended, but that it's important not to forget the root causes of the problem.
B'nai B'rith's last annual report found the number of antisemitic incidents more than doubled in 2023, amid Israel's invasion of Gaza in the aftermath of the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks.
"No community should have to clean up after they are repeatedly being victimized," Robertson said. "No community should ever have to wipe away an effort to make them feel unsafe in their own city."
Many dozens of the pieces of graffiti Charach has removed make reference to the Israel-Hamas war, including several "Free Palestine" tags and calls to "say no to genocide" and "end apartheid," which the man said are offensive to his community.
"Most of my community would like a free Palestine, just not the way that the people who are trying to kill my family in Israel are talking about it," he said.
Some of his younger relatives are in the Israeli army, and several of his friends in the country had their family taken hostage in the war.
"To me, what I'm doing, I have no political motivation," Charach said.
"All this other stuff is very annoying and it's offensive, especially to me and maybe to other people. But someone tagging a whole neighbourhood basically saying, 'Hi, the neo-Nazis are here in Winnipeg' … that is what really got me."
Facing hate
The Charleswood graffiti was one in a series of tags that started cropping up in the west Winnipeg neighbourhood late last year. "Skinhead" and the letters "M.K.Y." were also scrawled on the side of the Hydro box.
The abbreviation stands for the name of a transnational neo-Nazi organization which allegedly originated in Ukraine, according to the Canadian Anti-Hate Network.
Charleswood resident Claire Rodger said she first learned about them in early December, when her family found her garage had been tagged.
"We sort of went for a walk around the neighbourhood and we counted eight tags altogether," she said.
"We have some brand new residents that are in our community that have come from the Ukraine, and they are also Jewish.… I can't even imagine how they're feeling thinking they'd come to a place that was accepting and safe."
CBC News reached out to the city and Winnipeg police for comment. Police said earlier this month an investigation was underway.
Charach said besides antisemitic graffiti, he's also removed tags targeting the Black and Indigenous community, as well as those using offensive language.
He said his upbringing as part of the Winnipeg's Jewish community taught him to spread love, not hate.
He said he hopes his work helps make the city a place people can be proud of, and inspire others to do the same.
"It helps me deal with the hate. Helps me feel I can make a bit of a difference. Helps me sleep better at night," Charach said.
"I feel better when I can do something to make the world a little bit better.… Right now, it deserves a lot better than it's getting all over the world, not just my community."
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