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A Democratic candidate for the New York State Senate was photographed carrying an anti-police sign at a Black Lives Matter rally in 2020.
Christian Amato, 34, is seen hoisting a sign that reads ACAB – which stands for ‘All Cops Are B*****rds’ – during a George Floyd protest in the photo that began circulating on social media after political rival James Gisondi tweeted the image on April 8.
The controversy over the photo comes a day after NYC mayor Eric Adams criticized his fellow Democrats for supporting Black Lives Matter only when those behind the killings of African-Americans are cops.
Amato, a former staffer for State Senator Alessandra Biaggi who is running to fill her seat in the 36th district – which covers the Bronx and parts of Westchester County – admitted to the New York Post that he indeed carried the sign, but claimed that he did not know what it said.
Amato (above, middle) was pictured holding an ACAB sign at a BLM protest of a Back the Blue rally in the Bronx in 2020. ACAB stands for ‘All Cops Are B*****rds’
‘Someone passed me the sign and I didn’t know it said, ACAB. I had no clue,’ Amato told the Post, ‘I totally grabbed the sign in haste.’
Alongside Amato in the photo is a man carrying a sign that says, ‘Blue Lives Don’t Matter.’
The photograph was taken by Wayne Gurman – an outspoken right-wing voice in the Bronx who runs the Facebook group BRONX STRONG – while attending a Back the Blue rally at Loreto Playground in the Bronx in the days following the death of George Floyd in 2020.
A BLM group arrived to protest the rally and started blasting the song ‘Fuk Da Police,’ according to Gurman, who spotted Amato carrying the ACAB sign and took the photo.
‘It’s laughable that Amato is running for Senate,’ Gurman told The Post, ‘He’s a weasel beyond belief.’
Gurman’s photo found its way into the hands of Gisondi – who is also running for the 36th district Senate seat – who posted it on his Twitter account on April 8 and commented that Amato was ‘unfit to hold office at any level.’
Amato is running to represent the 36th district in the New York state Senate. He served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Senator Alessandra Biaggi but was fired in 2019 for unknown reasons
Fellow democrat and opponent for the 36th district race, James Gisondi, lit controversy after he tweeted the photo of Amato on April 8
Amato said that he was only protesting the Back the Blue rally because he felt it was insensitive to hold it so shortly after Floyd’s death.
‘The officers deserve our respect. But we need our officers to be culturally cognitive,’ Amato told The Post, ‘When there is social unrest, it is not the best moment to hold an event. You have to read the room.’
Amato was fired from his post as Deputy Chief of Staff to Biaggi in 2019 for unknown reasons.
News of Amato’s ACAB photo comes alongside a New York Post report that Noah Weston, 37, a democratic candidate for Brooklyn leadership, spewed hateful anti-police rhetoric on Twitter in 2021.
Amato admitted to the New York Post that he was the one carrying the ACAB sign in the photo, but claimed that he did not know what the sign said at the time of the protest
The news follows a NY Post report that a democratic candidate for Brooklyn leadership, Noah Weston, wrote vicious anti-cop tweets in 2021. He doubled down on his stance after the report
The Post article from last week dove into Weston’s many comments criticizing the New York City Police Department, including tirades that branded officers as ‘f****** pigs’ and ‘sacks of s***’ who have failed egregiously to solve the Big Apple’s incessant crime woes.’
On Sunday Eric Adams, speaking with Anderson Cooper on CBS’ 60 Minutes, continued his habit of criticizing the party for being soft on crime and supporting BLM instead of cops
Weston, also known by the stage name ‘Soul Khan,’ doubled down on his remarks calling NYPD officers ‘useless pigs’ after the New York Post published a story on his anti-cop views.
‘[E]verything I said was accurate and I would say it again,’ Weston tweeted on April 17.
Adams, speaking with Anderson Cooper on CBS’ 60 Minutes on Sunday, continued his habit of criticizing his party for being soft on crime.
‘Democrats don’t like talking about intervention,’ said Adams, 61. ‘But we have to lean into the discomfort of the immediate things we must do. Because you can’t say Black Lives Matter when a police officer shoots a young person, but does that black life matter when a 12-year-old baby was shot?’
Cooper asked Adams why Democrats don’t like talking about intervention.
Adams responded: ‘Because when you talk about intervention, you have to use the term of giving police officers the tools to deal with violence right now.’
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