Racist, anti-Kamala Harris signs at bus stops in Denver

In what could become a nationwide trend, racist anti-Kamala Harris signs appeared Thursday near several bus stops along Colfax Avenue in Denver and in at least one other state.

“I wish I could say I was surprised, but in a year when a Black woman could become president, those with hate in their hearts will coordinate these kinds of cruel, expensive campaigns to stoke division,” Denver City Councilwoman Shontel Lewis said in a statement on X.

The first sign in Denver was reported around 5 a.m. by a bus driver at a stop near the intersection of Colfax Avenue and Oneida Street, according to a news release from the Denver Regional Transportation District.

RTD officials said the metal sign was riveted to the bus stop pole and appeared to have been put up shortly before the report.

At around 8:20 a.m. on Thursday, a man in Denver's Congress Park neighborhood observed two white women putting up another sign at an RTD bus stop near the intersection of Colfax Avenue and Garfield Street.

“It was one of those things where you know something is wrong, but you don't know what's going on,” said Congress Park resident Greg Bell.

Bell said he passed the two women — who were carrying a white stepladder and trash bags that he believed held the signs — as he headed to a Sprouts on the corner of the intersection to run a quick errand. His receipt was dated 8:23 a.m.

As he left the store, Bell saw the couple set up the stepladder in front of the bus stop and a woman climb up it with a white metal sign in her hand.

When Bell saw photos posted on social media later Thursday morning, he immediately recognized the building behind the bus stop sign and realized what the women had done.

“This is horrific, illegal and hateful,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser wrote in a statement on social media on Thursday. “Hatred against one of us must be treated as hatred against all of us.”

Photos posted by Councilwoman Lewis show the signs bolted to the poles of the RTD bus stop at the corner of Colfax Avenue and Garfield Street, in front of National Jewish Health and just west of Colorado Boulevard.

A white sign reads: “Blacks must sit in the back of the bus. Kamala's migrants sit in the front.” Another yellow warning sign on the same pole warns passengers about “Kamala's illegals” and shows images of people running, meant to mimic immigrants crossing the border.

The warning sign is modeled after a real road sign that used to be in place in California warning drivers near the San Diego border to watch for migrants running across the highway. The last sign was removed in 2018.

According to RTD officials, signs have been found since 10:45 a.m. at three RTD bus stops near the intersections of Colfax Avenue and Oneida Street, Colfax Avenue and Yosemite Street, and Colfax Avenue and Garfield Street.

RTD officials said similar signs appeared at Chicago Transit Authority bus stops on Thursday and that Colorado authorities were in contact with other agencies across the country to “assess the extent of coordinated racist activity.”

Just before the Legislature ended its special session on property taxes on Thursday, two Denver lawmakers condemned the signs from the House chamber, several blocks from where one of the signs was posted. Several other Democratic lawmakers stood around them, and other lawmakers stood at their desks, a sign of solidarity in the chamber.

“I think it's important that we face our history and realize that if we want to say we've made progress, we all have to show that by standing here unanimously in the statement that this is hate and this is unacceptable,” said Rep. Jennifer Bacon, a Denver Democrat and assistant House majority leader. “I also want to say that we don't know who put up these signs. And we therefore don't know who is part of the problem. We know that we cannot allow people to continue to believe that this is acceptable or to believe that by putting up these signs they can expand their power.”

According to a Thursday press release, RTD officials are working with the Denver Department of Transportation and the Denver Police Department to remove all reported signs and investigate each individual incident.

“RTD strongly condemns the hateful, discriminatory message the signs convey,” transportation officials wrote in the press release. “There is no place for racism or discrimination at RTD or in the communities we serve. The signs do not reflect the organization's values, nor do they promote a welcoming transportation environment for all, nor should such an abhorrent message be tolerated or supported by anyone.”

Anyone who notices an unauthorized sign or suspicious behavior at RTD bus stops should call Transit Police Dispatch at 303-299-2911, text 303-434-9100, or file an anonymous report using RTD's Transit Watch app.