WASHINGTON — In the wake of Saturday’s deadly Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, a design based on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ logo has become a symbol of the city’s strength and determination to rise above the hate that unfolded inside the Tree of Life synagogue.
LIVE UPDATES: 11 victims identified in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting
With the Star of David replacing the yellow hypocycloid and the message “Stronger than Hate” taking the place of “Steelers,” the design created by Tim Hindes quickly went viral.
Hindes had been a mile away from the synagogue and heard "an excessive number of sirens," only to learn of the tragedy upon looking at his phone, he said in a Facebook post.
“My heart sunk. Unfortunately, it wasn't because of the shooting, but because (I had feared) it was fueled by hate,” Hindes wrote.
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Earlier in the week, Hindes said a friend was the victim of anti-Semitic verbal attacks.
"I had been disturbed by these events all week long and it seemed that I was seeing these same remarks now being played out in horrific fashion in front of me," the post continued.
On the day Mayor Bill Peduto called the “darkest day of Pittsburgh's history,” Hindes created a symbol that has shed light on the city’s resilience.
“When I got to a point where I could, I picked up my laptop and started doodling. My intent wasn't clear. But I doodled. As any designer will tell you, sometimes graphic design concepts come quick and other times it is quite tedious,” Hindes said. “But, I've found in my experiences that when design is driven by emotion, it tends to be less cerebral and happens quickly and poignantly. This was one of this cases. But it wasn't created without meaning or thought.”
"This is an image for Pittsburgh and those who love Pittsburgh. I see every posting of this image as a WIN for love and a strike against hate," Hindes said in the post. "We were strong before this tragedy. A tragedy like this just makes us stronger. Just like you can't break steel, you can't break the resiliency of a Pittsburgher. We are stronger than hate."
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