South Florida residents were sent into shock when driving down the Palmetto Expressway in Northwest Miami-Dade County, as a hacker broke into the electronic signs and replaced the information with racially offensive messages. The words "NO LATINOS NO TACOS" were flashing in big, bold letters, instead of the usual traffic messages. It is unknown how long the messages were on the signs.

By 6 a.m. the next morning, road crews had turned the signs away from the highway and were working to fix the error. Officials of the city said that the signs were password protected, but they are reviewing security measures to prevent the problem from happening again.

This is not the first time road signs have been hacked. Last year, in Austin Texas, there were signs warning drivers that there were zombies in the area. One in Indiana warned drivers of raptors being nearby.

Reactions of residents to the signs were were mixed on Facebook.

"Wow someone has a lot of time on their hands to think up of how they can belittle and disrespect a group of people who help keep this country going," said Luly Cueto-Belot.

"Greatest thing I ever saw...let's take this country back dammit!!!..south will rise again mother---er!!" said David Pines.

The company that owns the signs is called Highway Technologies, which is based in Illinois. Gil Joseph, the spokesman for the company, told NBC Miami that it is using all of its resources to investigate the source of the hack.

"The hacked message was offensive and vandalistic. We had nothing to do with the message and we find the message both appalling and discriminatory," said Joseph.

Good answer Mr. Joseph, good answer. This was obviously a bad joke, and an offensive one. This sign also contributes to the broader debate going on in America about immigration policy and the nation's response to increases in the number of residents from South America. In fact, this week alone, I've written on two racially-charged stories involving Latin-Americans and I get the feeling that these won't be the last.


Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the author of the new book, "Black American Money." To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.