'White Supremacist' Group Hangs Banner From Waukesha Metro: WKPD

WAUKESHA, WI — A group of men hung a racist sign from the Downtown Transit Center on Thursday, police logs from the Waukesha Police Department showed.

The sign, tied to a group identified as a "white supremacist" organization by the Anti-Defamation League, was left on the railing of the top level of the parking ramp around 3:45 p.m. and taken down immediately, police said.

A witness told police that six men in face masks hung the sign. About half an hour before the men hung the sign, witnesses told police they saw two men with cameras and backpacks take photos of the inside of city hall, according to the same police report. When one of the workers spoke with them and asked what they were doing, they would not speak to him at all. It's not clear if those men were part of the same group or how the incidents were connected.

Three white supremacist groups were responsible for a 91 percent of hateful messaging and propaganda left in public spaces and online in 2021, the Anti-Defamation League reported.

The city has seen an uptick of racist messages since Darrell Brooks Jr., 40, was arrested, city administrator Kevin Lahner told WISN-12. Brooks was accused of killing six people and injuring nearly 70 more at a Waukesha Christmas parade in November 2021.

"We don't want that sort of message spread in our community," Lahner told WISN-12.

Patch has reached out to Lahner and the Waukesha Police Department for more information.