April 19, 2025
The billboard acts at an intersection of activism and grief, as Wilson’s family refuses to be overlooked in the wake of Caleb’s death.
The grieving family of Caleb Wilson put up billboards aimed at Omega Psi Phi members gathering for a fraternity meeting to bring attention to the boy’s death on April 17.
The New Orleans billboard will stay up to remind passersby about Wilson, a Southern University engineering student who died due to an Omega Psi Phi hazing ritual in a Baton Rouge warehouse in February.
Police are currently still investigating the hazing incident, but family members of Caleb Wilson have taken matters into their own hands to make sure his story is not overlooked.
The billboard went live on Poydras Street, reading, “Remember, while you celebrate… remember Caleb.”
The billboard features a to-do list, with the only task marked: “Funeral and Burial.”
Wilson’s extended family purchased the signs and represents a call to justice for those involved in his tragic death.
Louisiana state representative Delisha Boyd told Fox8Live of the incident, “They had him [Wilson] sign all the paperwork that day. To allow him to go on the line, to pursue becoming an Omega Psi Phi member. They signed the paperwork by 4:30. At 1 a.m., their son was gone.”
Boyd has been supporting the Wilson family since Caleb’s death and has even introduced legal legislation to push for ending hazing in the Louisiana college space.
“No one from the fraternity has offered any condolences to the family,” Boyd continued.
Boyd’s Caleb Wilson Act would require members of student organizations, including fraternities, to take a semester-long course on hazing prevention. The protective bill has already been filed, but the recent billboard is another act of activism in the wake of Wilson’s death.
Boyd said, “I hope that this billboard will somehow reach someone that will reach out to that family. If nothing else, just to send a note saying, ‘I understand, we’re with you. Let us know what we can do.’”
As previously reported, 20-year-old Caleb Wilson was attempting to pledge to the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Still, he was left at a nearby hospital, where he later died “as a direct result of a hazing incident where he was punched in the chest multiple times.”
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