‘We’re the silent majority’: Rally in SLO supports DA Dan Dow and law enforcement
Close to 200 people turned out to the San Luis Obispo Superior Courthouse Thursday evening to “support (District Attorney) Dan Dow and Central Coast law enforcement,” as the DA’s Office considers whether to charge a local activist with felonies over a July 21 protest.
Though organizers of the rally said it was an event in support of the rule of law and letting the legal process play out for local organizer Tianna Arata, many at the event had already made up their minds about her guilt.
Among the sea of American and Blue Lives Matter flags and signage supportive of Dan Dow and county Sheriff Ian Parkinson, some signs declared “Tianna broke the law” and “Hold Tianna to account.”
Unlike recent Black Lives Matter protests, a significant number of the participants Thursday were not wearing masks or practicing social distancing, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The rally comes two days after several hundred people gathered at the courthouse for a rally to support Arata, a Cuesta College student and local protest organizer who was arrested July 21 after a march blocked traffic for about an hour on Highway 101.
Arata has not been formally charged, and the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office is reviewing the San Luis Obispo Police Department’s recommendation for eight criminal charges against Arata, including five felonies. Police Chief Deanna Cantrell previously said Arata broke the law by breaking an agreement not to lead marchers onto the highway, among other alleged offenses.
Also on Tuesday, several dozen people waving American and Blue Lives Matter flags held a counter protest down the street from the courthouse in support, they said, of SLOPD, the district attorney, and “the legal process.”
Thursday’s peaceful event was far larger, and one of its organizers, Erik Gorham, told the crowd over the loudspeaker that he was impressed by the turnout.
“These numbers are something to behold,” he said.
Gorham said the purpose of the rally was to voice support for local police officers, firefighters, emergency responders, and Dow, who he said were under threat from outsiders.
Earlier this month, prominent civil rights attorney Lee Merritt threatened to bombard San Luis Obispo with large-scale protests if Dow’s office files charges against Arata, who is due in court Sept. 3.
“We want (Dow) to know we support him, and we’re not going to let him be bullied, especially not from people from out of this area,” Gorham said.
Dow was not available for comment Thursday, and a District Attorney’s Office spokesman declined to comment.
Speaker tells crowd not to have ‘white guilt’
One of the protest’s four speakers, Brad Elijah, told the crowd that America was “built on values.”
“I just want to encourage you to always stand for the values of America,” Elijah said to cheers. “Our values are more important than people’s emotions.”
Elijah quoted the Declaration of Independence, saying that we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
“Equal,” he said. “So when you hear that America is systematically racist — it’s not.”
Elijah correctly noted that he’s “probably the only Black guy here,” which spurred laughter in the crowd, with one attendee yelling, “We’re glad you’re here!”
“That is America, that is based on a value of truth that I’m created equal. And I know that,” Elijah said. “Now that’s not to say that there aren’t other people that aren’t suffering and that aren’t being mistreated, and I understand that and I know that. But we have to stand on these truths. We have to stand on these values, and that’s what Dan Dow stands for.”
Encouraging listeners to “not back down,” he also told the overwhelmingly white crowd not to be “intimidated.”
“I don’t want you to have — can I say this? I’m going to say it — white guilt,” he said to applause. “Do not apologize for your color. You’re here to bring solutions to America. That’s what we’re all about, and that’s what Dan Dow is all about.”
Politics infused in the event
The rally to some was about more than just Arata’s case.
One participant, David “Hawk” Field, 67, told The Tribune he’s retired after a long career as a long-distance tour bus driver, a job that took him across the country and saw him working with vastly diverse groups of people.
“I know America as few people do, and one thing that really pisses me off for years now is a lot of our so-called compassionate government people claim to be interested in the welfare of minorities, and most of these guys sitting in these offices in these state capitals don’t know s---,” Field said. “They don’t know these people — I know them. They cleaned my bus. Many times I would be working side by side with them.”
Field said he resents that conservatives are portrayed in the mainstream media as not caring about the well-being of minorities, and that the voices of the working class are not being heard.
Asked for his views on the existence of systemic racism, Field called it “bulls--t.”
“It’s all manufactured,” he said. “Basically (Black Lives Matter protesters) being fed a stream of lies, by people who want to take down the current regime. In fact, that’s what this entire lockdown of the economy is about.”
Field took off his “Trump 2020” cap, displayed it to a reporter, and said until recently, he had never been a person to wear political attire.
“I am so pissed, and in my opinion, there are hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats who are Trump haters and in the NIH, the CDC, and numerous other agencies in the United States government as well as state governments. It’s just clear as day to me.”
Field said that liberal forces “just want to crush the current regime so they can cram their package of immoral crap down our throats.”
Protesters call themselves ‘the silent majority’
Most of the rally went off without any confrontations, with many motorists in rush hour traffic honking their support, including one SUV that circled several times with “Book her Dano” written on windows on both sides of the vehicle.
They cheered and applauded when a pair of San Luis Obispo Police Department officers on bicycles approached the group.
Some motorists were vocally non-supportive, with the driver of a Volkswagen bus telling the crowd to “f--k off” and another motorist yelling that “blue lives do not exist.”
The group stayed in the courthouse plaza for the first hour of the event, but when a pair of counter-protesters with “Black Lives Matter” signs began shouting from across Monterey Street in front of the Fremont Theater, they were quickly swarmed by members of the Back the Badge group who drowned them out.
One Back the Badge protester with a megaphone yelled at the Black Lives Matter protesters: “Hey, where’s your friends? You guys are the minority — we’re the silent majority!”
The crowd also broke into renditions of “The Star Spangled Banner” and “God Bless the USA.”
After about two hours, the event had mostly dispersed as streams of pedestrians with American flags walked to cars parked nearby.
