Racist 'Blacks can't walk or work in this neighborhood' sign sparks outrage in Houston

A racist sign apparently made as a personal snide to an officer from the Houston Police Department caused outraged on social media. The piece was strategically put next to the First Ward welcoming sign but is now laying at the bottom of a trashcan.

“New HPD law. Blacks can't walk or work in this neighborhood,” the sign read.

The bold and racially offensive sign was made with white cardboard and stenciled capital letters, and planted next to the welcoming sign to the First Ward neighborhood in Houston, Texas.

Gloria Perez, a mother and resident of the neighbor, saw the sign and found it repulsive. At first, she took a picture of it and shared it on social media asking for advice on what to do about it. A few hours later, she drove by past it again, but this time she got out of her car and ripped the sign from its place.

She threw it in the garbage, where it belongs.

“I don't want anybody reading that," she told ABC13. "I thought it was really racist. No matter who it was towards. Both towards the black community, people of color, and the Houston Police Department. It offends everybody."

She added:

“I decided to get it off the street. I didn't want any child reading that period, and thinking their dreams could be restricted based off of a sign.”

According to the News Site, at the bottom of the sign and hidden from the general view, was a sexist remark against a female police officer from the Houston Police Department. ABC13 did not reveal the name or the insult they found.

Victor Senties, a spokesman for the police department, said they were not aware of the sign but were “looking into it.”

Perez stated that she didn’t want to silence anyone, because all people are entitled to express their opinions, but believed they didn’t in the best way. Signs are also against the city’s ordinance and are considered as vandalism.

“If you feel like you've been wronged, you should definitely speak up, but in a way that hurts everybody, I don't think it does any good,” Perez stated.

MORE RACIST SIGNS

Houston is not the only city where hate signs have made an appearance.

Last month, the neighbors of Sterling Heights in Michigan woke up to see a dozen racist signs all over the neighborhood. A gunman pointing his gun to minorities, a swastika, and more racist drawings were used to promote a white supremacist website that denies the Holocaust.

John Connor, a man who lives a block away from where most of the signs were found, said he found them “disgusting.” Connor is a veteran that fought for the country and all of its people, so he believes its “unpatriotic” to promote such hateful speech.

“We won’t stand for it,” said Chief Dale Dwojakowski of the Sterling Heights Police Department to WXYZ. He also praised the members of the community for condemning the signs and reporting the situation to the police immediately.

“This community is against hate,” he said. “Every single person in this community has the right to live, raise their family, and feel safe. We are going to make sure that happens.”

The Sterlight Heights Police Department asked neighbors with surveillance cameras to come forward if they had captured the sight of the people putting up the signs.