CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Along I-77 near Clanton Road, early morning drivers got a sickening taste of racism. Someone painted racial slurs on a plywood board and attached it to a real estate sign.

James Little could hardly believe what he saw as he was driving by.

"It just said, 'Happy dead - then the n-word. Happy dead n-word,'" which, Little took to mean Martin Luther King.

Across Charlotte, several similar incidents were reported too. Where I-485 meets Highway 160, racial slogans were painted on a big plywood board and left in place for the MLK holiday.

Police quickly removed and destroyed the signs, but the cases have been turned over to investigators in the Criminal Intelligence Unit, which tracks hate crimes.

As for the city's King holiday celebrations, many refused to allow the racial slurs to ruin their holiday.

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VIDEO: Police Removed And Destroyed Racial Signs

"The ignorance is always going to be there. So we can just continue to come together and show people that it's ignorance. That's all it is," said Charlotte resident Damajo Smith.

James Little can't shake the reminder that for some, this was a holiday of hate.

Investigators in the Criminal Intelligence Unit said it's too early to say whether Monday's incidents may have been related, but they were certainly similar.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said there were eight confirmed hate crimes in 2004.