DENVER (AP) — A longtime Colorado real estate agent who was fired for removing Black Lives Matter signs in an affluent neighborhood where she sells homes slammed the protest movement Thursday, but said she would do the things differently in the future to make his point.
Denice Reich, who sells homes in Denver’s Hilltop neighborhood, was laid off Aug. 3, according to Chad Ochsner, owner of RE/MAX Alliance. Reich had worked for the real estate agency since 1973 and specialized in luxury homes.
Ochsner said multiple posts on the neighborhood’s NextDoor, a social media platform for homeowners and residents, accused Reich of removing the signs.
“We are not a company that can tolerate trespassing on people’s private property and theft,” Ochsner told KUSA-TV on Wednesday. “For us, politics doesn’t matter.”
Reich’s biography has since been removed from the RE/MAX website.
She told The Associated Press on Thursday that she removed two Black Lives Matter signs and returned them three hours later. She denied taking the signs was illegal because “people do it all the time,” noting that her signs supporting President Donald Trump have been taken down four times.
“Black Lives Matter signs represent vanity plaques for white guilt,” she said. “They haven’t done anything to help improve.”
She also called the movement anti-Semitic, very violent, Marxist and “anti-all things America”.
The movement was in the spotlight after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last May. The protests have called for rethinking policing and examining racism in the United States.
Reich said she supports police reform, donated to a scholarship that helps black students, and “moved Jews and black people to neighborhoods where it wasn’t popular.”
Going forward, she said, she would not remove Black Lives Matter signs and instead work with lawmakers to pass changes.
“I want people to love this country. Love this flag and don’t hate America,” she said.
