Proud Boys Recruitment Billboard Erected Near IL High School

CLINTON COUNTY, IL — A billboard advertising the Proud Boys near a high school in southern Illinois has been removed following outcry from the community, according to reports.

The billboard, which urged people to “join now,” was located about 1,000 feet from Central Community High School near Breese, Capitol News Illinois reported, adding calls to the phone number on the board went to a full voicemail.

Residents called the Lamar advertising company asking that the sign be removed and complained at Monday night’s Clinton County Board meeting, where the board unanimously voted in favor of a non-binding resolution decrying hate speech and bigotry, according to KSDK.

The Anti-Defamation League describes the Proud Boys as “a right-wing extremist group with a history of using violence, targeted harassment and intimidation to achieve their political goals and combat perceived enemies.” The group is misogynistic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ+, antisemitic, Islamaphobic and white supremacist, according to the ADL, which noted at least 58 members and chapter affiliates were apprehended in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.

“It is sickening that they are putting it in front of a high school,” Drew Kampwerth, a Breese resident and mother of four, told Capitol News Illinois, stating, “They are letting people know there is a safe space for hate and I think that’s wrong.”

The advertisement was moved Monday to face the other side of the billboard before being taken down altogether Tuesday, according to KSDK.