SLO mayor condemns District Attorney Dan Dow over new protest charges against Black men
San Luis Obispo Mayor Heidi Harmon condemned San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow in a strongly worded and partially inaccurate letter after three Black men were charged with misdemeanors Friday morning for their involvement in a local Black Lives Matter protest.
Harmon, who is running for reelection, has attended protests, declared racial injustice as a public health crisis and expressed her concern about the San Luis Obispo Police Department’s use of teargas against protesters. However, she not spoken out against Dow until now.
Dow recently spoke at a fundraiser for a California secessionist group with a controversial keynote speaker who told an enthusiastic crowd that systemic racism doesn’t exist.
During a July 21 protest, he tweeted out a “public safety alert” and said the protest on the highway “must stop.”
Harmon did not respond to requests for comment Sunday morning.
Dow responded to multiple requests for comment by saying he would release a statement “during normal business hours” Monday.
3 Black men face charges in connection to SLO protest
Harmon started off the letter, sent Saturday afternoon, by writing that “Our democracy is being called into question.”
The focus of the letter was the charges filed against three Black men — Marcus Montgomery, Joshua Powell and Amman Asfaw — in connection to a July 21 protest in San Luis Obispo that ended in the arrest of 20-year-old organzier Tianna Arata.
“Dow’s actions — to charge these community members for exercising the 1st Amendment — is nothing more than an intimidation tactic; telling our community members that they must be silent or be subject to arrest,” the letter read.
“I am here to say: NO. Not on my watch. Your Jim Crow tactics will not stand here in SLO. And we, the people of SLO, will not stand idle while our young people are being played like pawns for political gain,” Harmon continued.
She said charging the men was not only a form of intimidation, but a message for people of color in San Luis Obispo.
“The D.A. is enforcing the systemic suppression of community activism here in SLO and it sends a message: You are not safe to protest or to vote or to belong — if your skin isn’t white,” the letter also said.
RACE Matters issued a statement Friday about the charges.
“Once again, Black protesters are being singled out for participating in a protest with hundreds of other predominately white community members,” the organization said in a prepared statement. “These actions seek to intimidate people of color exercising their rights of free speech and is an effort to shut down dissent in our community.”
In total, eight people have been charged for their involvement in the July 21 Black Lives Matter protest that included a march onto Highway 101. The criminal case they were added to began back in September.
On Friday, county prosecutors amended an ongoing criminal case complaint to add three co-defendants. A new complaint was filed later Friday against three additional men.
The charges were brought forth nearly three months after the protest and only 18 days away from the election.
“The timing of these particular indictments isn’t even particularly covert. California ballots just started arriving in SLO at the beginning of the month,” Harmon wrote.
Five of those charged in connection with the protest are people of color.
Until Friday evening, only people of color had been charged for their alleged actions at the protest, which was attended mostly by white community members.
Arata, who was one of the protest leaders, faces 13 misdemeanors. Another protester arrested July 21, Elias Bautista, 23, was charged with a felony and two additional misdemeanors.
Montgomery, 24, is charged with four misdemeanors, including false imprisonment, obstructing the free movement of any person in a public place, and resisting or delaying a police officer.
Powell, 23, is charged with delaying two police officers. And Asfaw, 22, is charged with a single count of false imprisonment.
Harmon’s letter said the charges against the three young Black men suppress people’s constitutional rights “by design.”
“You seem to have forgotten something most vital to the obligations of your office: the Constitution,” Harmon wrote to Dow. “... We have constitutional provisions like the First Amendment that protect citizens like Mr. Asfaw, Mr. Montgomery, and Mr. Powell solely because our founders had envisioned ill-intentioned government officials like yourself.”
“Make no mistake — I will stand with our community. I am ready to speak out on their behalf. I swore an oath to this city and unlike you, I will see mine fulfilled,” she continued.
Although it was sent Saturday, Harmon’s letter does not mention the three white men who were charged later Friday evening in connection to local protests.
A District Attorney’s Office spokesman told The Tribune that the delay between the filing of the two complaints Friday was unintentional.
The most recent filings include Robert Lastra Jr., 21, who is facing a felony charge of vandalism and a misdemeanor count of false imprisonment, according to the complaint.
Jerad Hill, 27, and 25-year-old Sam Grocott, who was hit by a silver BMW, were also charged with misdemeanors.
None of the motorists involved in several altercations with protesters were charged for their involvement.
Harmon, who is running for her third term as San Luis Obispo mayor, said she feels that one man in particular was singled out after endorsing her in a video.
“If you took a stand for justice this summer, it’s imperative that you take a stand for who you want to see in office,” Asfaw said in an Oct. 7 campaign video urging people to vote for Harmon.
Asfaw was recently appointed chairperson of San Luis Obispo City’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force and has spoken at several protests. The Cal Poly student is also the president of the university’s chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers.
“My campaign released a highly watched video of Mr. Asfaw endorsing our campaign and urging his fellow students to vote,” Harmon said. “We published his name again as a member of the City Council appointed DE&I task force just one day before Mr. Dow elected to include Mr. Asfaw in his roundup.”
Do suspects face prison time?
While Harmon made her stance against Dow’s decision clear, some of what she wrote assumed the three Black men were facing felonies, not misdemeanors.
In the letter, Harmon wrote that Montgomery, Powell and Asfaw will be sentenced to prison if “Dow gets his way.”
However, the three men were charged with misdemeanors and each misdemeanor count carries a maximum sentence of six months in San Luis Obispo County Jail and a $1,000 fine.
Bautista and Lastra, who are facing felony charges, were not mentioned in Harmon’s letter.
Harmon also brings up the Voting Rights Act of 1965, saying that “our county district attorney is using the power of his office to attempt to disenfranchise and silence three men of our town.”
But again, the men she referenced are not charged with felonies and therefore face no risk of being denied the right to vote.
Harmon told Dow in her letter that “I suggest you return our community members to their families immediately and let’s stop using young people as pawns in your political games.”
In doing so, Harmon suggested the community members were separated from their families.
Each man was served Thursday afternoon with a letter to appear in San Luis Obispo Superior Court on Oct. 22. None are currently in custody.
SLO Mayor Heidi Harmon’s letter to District Attorney Dan Dow
The mayor’s full letter has been copied below:
“Our democracy is being called into question.
“Late Thursday night, three Black men were singled out for charges associated with their peaceful participation in the Black Lives Matters protests of this past July. Of the hundreds of people who protested peacefully, the district attorney has singled out these three Black men—leaders in our communities—from the mostly white crowd. These men have worked to bring a voice to our Black and Brown communities of San Luis Obispo. If Dan Dow gets his way, their activism this election will result in a prison sentence.
“D.A. Dan Dow’s actions—to charge these community members for exercising the 1st Amendment—is nothing more than an intimidation tactic; telling our community members that they must be silent or be subject to arrest.
“He is trying to draw attention away from the election, and create civil tension by issuing trumped-up charges against peaceful protesters. But together, we will not allow injustice to prevail.
“The Voters Rights Act of 1965 was meant to end institutionalized Black disfranchisement.
“Today, our county district attorney is using the power of his office to attempt to disenfranchise and silence three men of our town—and by proxy, the entire community these men work to empower through their activism.
“With a single move of unfettered judicial authority, D.A. Dan Dow has indicted .29% of the Black community in SLO City. For context, he would have needed to indict 115 of our white citizens if all things were kept equal at the prosecutor’s office.
“The message Dan Dow is sending to our town is clear: Use your voice to speak truth to power and we’ll put you in prison.
“This blatant abuse of legal authority has one intended aim: intimidation. By indicting three outspoken, leading members of SLO’s youth community, our county D.A. sends a pointed message to all potential future community activists: Stay home and stay safe. Or don’t.
“The timing of these particular indictments isn’t even particularly covert. California ballots just started arriving in SLO at the beginning of the month. The last day to register CA voters online is on the 19th—two days from today. And voting in the CA general election will last for only another 17 days. Seven days ago, my campaign released a highly watched video of Mr. Asfaw endorsing our campaign and urging his fellow students to vote. We published his name again as a member of the City Council appointed DE&I task force just one day before Mr. Dow elected to include Mr. Asfaw in his round-up.
“Arresting people who are campaigning for your political opponents is a well recognized form of voter suppression. And Dan Dow knows his political playbook.
“The D.A. is enforcing the systemic suppression of community activism here in SLO and it sends a message: you are not safe to protest or to vote or to belong—if your skin isn’t white.
“I am here to say: NO. Not on my watch. Your Jim Crow tactics will not stand here in SLO. And we, the people of SLO, will not stand idle while our young people are being played like pawns for political gain.
“If this is political war by proxy, you have picked children as your targets.
“And Mr. District Attorney, you seem to have forgotten something most vital to the obligations of your office: the Constitution. As Justice Kennedy put it in Citizens United, “political speech must prevail against laws that would suppress it by design or inadvertence.” Here your actions are clearly by design. We have constitutional provisions like the First Amendment that protect citizens like Mr. Asfaw, Mr. Montgomery, and Mr. Powell solely because our founders had envisioned ill-intentioned government officials like yourself.
“Mr. Dow, make no mistake—I will stand with our community.
“I am ready to speak out on their behalf.
“I swore an oath to this city and unlike you, I will see mine fulfilled.
“And our Constitution will protect the men you’ve indicted, even as you attempt to undermine the exercise of our democracy.
“I suggest you return our community members to their families immediately and let’s stop using young people as pawns in your political games.”
Heidi Harmon
Mayor - San Luis Obispo
This story was originally published October 18, 2020 at 1:16 PM.
