White nationalists hack Alabama road sign with Memorial Day message: report

An electronic road sign in Alabama was hacked to display white supremacist propaganda on Memorial Day, reported AL.com.

"Images on social media showed large digital traffic signs displaying the words 'Patriot Front' and 'reclaim America,'" reported William Thornton. "One driver, heading north on I-65, stated on Twitter that an Alabama state trooper 'waved me to go on.' 'How does this come about? Is it an inside job kind of thing? It also said ‘Road Work Nightly’ or something on the third ‘slide’ and it was an actual work zone that followed. Weird as hell."

According to the Alabama Department of Transportation's public information officer John McWilliams, the sign was hacked: “A citizen alerted a nearby state trooper about the message, who then contacted ALDOT. ALDOT personnel immediately responded and turned the message board off. No other message boards on I-65 were affected.”

Patriot Front, which broke off from the neo-Nazi organization Vanguard America after the deadly "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, is identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a white nationalist hate group, that believes America is a land created by and for white people.

The group, which recently held a rally in Washington, D.C., has tried to distance itself from open Nazi imagery and recast white nationalism as generic, pro-America patriotism. But its members have frequently gotten into trouble.

Last year, a member of Patriot Front who stormed the Capitol on January 6 pleaded guilty to weapons offenses. Another pleaded guilty this month to possessing sexual images of children.