DENVER — A Republican activist who publicly mused about shooting Latinos this week is claiming credit for racist signs that appeared overnight in Denver on Thursday.
Sabo, as he is known, describes himself as a street artist. His company lists a PO Box in Aurora.
Sabo told 9NEWS that he has been contacted by Denver Police, who are investigating the signs as a possible bias-motivated crime.
Sabo said he was motivated to post the signs because of reports that a Venezuelan gang forced the closure of an apartment complex in Aurora. The City of Aurora and Aurora Police have said the closure was not due to gang activity but rather years of neglect by a landlord now facing charges for neglect of the property.
The signs, discovered attached to existing signage along Colfax in Denver and Aurora, read “Kamala’s Illegals” and “Blacks Must Sit At The Back Of The Bus. Kamala’s Migrants Sit In The Front.”
Democratic Gov. Jared Polis responded, saying in part, “There is no room for hate in our state.”
The signs were first discovered by RTD drivers around 5 a.m. Thursday.
A Facebook post by Sabo included photos of the signs with a caption reading, in part, “I’m not going to lie to you, it was a scary night, but saying the Lord’s Prayer while working help (sic) a lot.”
RTD said similar signs were recently posted in Chicago and the agency was “connecting with other transit agencies across the country to assess the magnitude of the coordinated racist activity.”
Sabo also took credit for the racist signage in Chicago.
“I put up a few in Chicago during the DNC and I have plans for another set to go up some place else, which will no doubt bring the police to my door,” Sabo posted on Facebook two days prior to the signs going up in Denver. Another post indicates Sabo affixed the signs outside a fried chicken restaurant near the Democratic National Convention.
“I saw Black observers shocked when they saw this,” he wrote.
Sabo’s website includes photos of racist signs posted outside the Colorado Capitol in March 2024.
In a YouTube livestream on Wednesday, prior to the posting of the signs on Colfax, Sabo complained about Venezuelans and other Latinos, and used an ethnic slur for the Latino journalist who covered the racist signs posted outside the Capitol and the closure of the apartment complex in Aurora. He listed specific Latino nationalities he would use as “target practice” during a conflict.
“If a civil war breaks out and the f---ing Guatemalans and Ecuadorians are like coming over the fence and stuff like that, it is straight up target practice,” Sabo said.
Sabo had a foray into mainstream Republican politics in 2016, when his art promoting then-presidential candidate Ted Cruz was sold on the campaign’s website before being pulled after Sabo’s history of racist comments surfaced. On Wednesday’s livestream, Sabo said, “I’m a Republican. I’ve always been a Republican.”
Prior to Sabo’s admission to 9NEWS, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston told 9NEWS on Thursday that the city would use surveillance video to find the perpetrators behind the racist signage.
“It’s fear that people want to propagate for political purposes,” Johnston said. “There’s no place in our city for that.”
