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'No White Guilt' Signs Causing Big Uproar In Montgomery County Community

HARLEYSVILLE, Pa. (CBS) -- A Montgomery County community is looking into signs that seem designed to promote racial division. The signs have just three words on them but they're causing a big uproar in the Harleysville area.

"I saw a yard sign that said 'no white guilt,'" one person said.

One of those "no white guilt" signs has been found near a supermarket on Main Street in Harleysville over the weekend, another at a busy intersection on Route 113, and one was found on the lawn of a home on Allentown Road.

"Honestly, it shocked me. I wasn't quite sure what it meant. What the intention was behind it?" Arielle Bianchimano of Sellersville said.

Bianchimano posted a photo of the yard sign in a Facebook group.

"I was horrified by it," she said.

That prompted a woman, who didn't want her face on camera, to take action and throw some of the signs away.

"It disturbs me that anyone would want to instill fear," the woman said.

The phrase "no white guilt" may refer to white men making movements like Black Lives Matter about them, according to a University of Pennsylvania assistant professor of history.

"It is time they step aside and recognize that this movement isn't about white men. It's not about white women either. It's about the advancement of Black lives," Professor Anne Berg said.

State Sen. Maria Collett, who represents parts of Montgomery and Bucks Counties, tells Eyewitness News that hateful language and racial discord has got to stop.

"We understand the need for diversity and inclusion in our communities and in our country," Sen. Collett said.

Police say someone did report one of the signs to them but they are on private property and the language is considered free speech so there is nothing police say they can do.

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