My name is Sophie Stebbins. I’m 18, and I’ll be graduating from Cuesta College in the spring. I am a proud graduate of FPCS, member of the Cuesta arts community, and a worker at the Cuesta library. I live in Los Osos. I was at the protests on Sunday, May 31, and Monday, June 1, in downtown San Luis Obispo.
I want to express my gratitude for your support of the Black Lives Matter movement and for our ability to protest in solidarity with Minneapolis and so many other cities around the nation against the incessant police brutality that plagues our governmental systems at the federal level and down to the local.
However, with the utmost respect, I see so much hypocrisy here. I want to say that I’m surprised that you would show up at an obviously peaceful rally to support us and still allow cops in riot gear to be patrolling. I want to be surprised that the very next day, you allowed them to tear gas a group of young people, my peers, for kneeling peacefully in the street for the same cause. I want to be surprised that you try to quell us by saying that there was a valid reason for this, and that you are moving forward with “meaningful efforts.”
Unfortunately, I am not surprised. Frankly, it’s no wonder that this would happen in the city with the least diverse CSU, with a reputation for gentrification and notoriety for its locals’ inability to even live and work in the city at a reasonable rate. It’s no wonder that after letting homeless people sleep on the streets month after month and not investing in effective community health or shelter plans, you wouldn’t show up for them now. It’s no wonder that after never showing up for the black community or standing against police brutality in a significant way, you wouldn’t show up for them now.
What I am is disappointed. I am a white person, and I am not claiming to speak for anyone else when I say this. But I have firsthand accounts, including my own, that show me exactly what happened during this protest, and it’s all too obvious. As far as I know, we had cops from SLO, Pismo Beach, Paso Robles, maybe more. Cops in riot gear. At a peaceful protest full of predominantly young, vulnerable people. A pro-Black Lives Matter, anti-police brutality protest.
My opinion is that the police presence during the rallies and marches was not only unnecessary, but also a threat toward and an act of aggression against the citizens of SLO, our right to free speech and assembly, and our peaceful solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Almost nothing about the presence or actions committed by the police promoted the cause or promoted peace. The police did help protesters by guiding traffic both on Sunday’s and Monday’s marches. They did not interfere at all for the most part, but they absolutely did not actively promote peace, either. They did not prevent protesters from occupying the highway, but they used it to later blame the protesters and played this off as being dangerous and out of their control.
On Monday evening, they offered a five-minute warning for a completely unnecessary dispersion of the peaceful crowd. This kind of dispersion, in my eyes, is a violation of rights, especially when it is committed with tear gas.
This “standoff” between protesters and police happened blocks from where any possible property destruction was occurring (which was not the fault of protesters, has nothing to do with BLM, and a shattered window means nothing compared to countless brutalized lives), and the tear gas was unprovoked.
The only people who were inciting fear or violence on this day were the police. The only people who had weapons were the police. The same was true when George Floyd was murdered. It’s the whole reason why we’re protesting.
This act was a blatant and frankly performative show of whose side you, SLOPD, and whoever else was in charge of what occurred with the police, are on. That side is not the side that the peaceful protesters were and continue to be on. That side is the side of every other police squad in riot gear firing tear gas and rubber bullets into crowds and killing and arresting innocent people across the country. That side is the side of the federal government and its military, who are revealing their increasingly more malicious intent toward us each and every day that a black person is murdered, or a poor person dies, or a child is Maced, or a newscaster is silenced, or a protester is arrested. That side is the side of fascists, racists, and suppressors. It is anti free-speech. It is anti-black. It is anti-peace. It is blatantly violent and unnecessary. This action speaks volumes at this time, especially.
Do yourself a favor and apologize for this. Never let it happen again. If you’re scared of people looting, actually protect businesses and the people who own them instead of punishing people who are uninvolved. Give us the means to live and organize well. Allow us to protest without being suppressed and impeded. Don’t shoot your own people. Don’t threaten teenagers with tear gas. Defund the police and invest in (nonviolent!) public and community health and safety programs. Invest in shelters, local businesses, rent decreases, housing opportunities, mutual aid, education. Invest in anything but the military and the destructive ideologies of the federal government—fear, conflict, and oppression. Invest in peace, unity, and joy.
Do better for everyone. Δ
Sophie Stebbins is going to graduate from Cuesta College in the spring. Send comments through the editor at clanham@newtimesslo.com or write a response for publication and email it to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Summer Guide 2020.
i wasn’t there. But it does seem reasonable that police “in riot gear” would be present. We’ve just witnessed several days of “protests” turning to the destruction of property and assault on bystanders; to the extent of attempted murder of police officers.
We all respect the right of peaceful protest; most of us have fought to protect it. But hopefully we are not going to allow those who do criminal acts to destroy our community.
You reference Black Lives Matter, a movement with an appealing title (though in fact “all lives matter equally.” Black Lives Matter has, as one of its policies, the dissolution of all police forces; another, the payment of a living wage to Black people regardless of whether or not they work. It is difficult for most of us to understand the logic behind people supporting such a movement.
As a military veteran, retired Cal Poly psychologist , international guest professor, and a passive supporter of Vietnam protestors, I am delighted to read this well written letter to the editor from Sophie Stgbbins. Thank you for the exceptionally well written letter. Congratulations on your academic accomplishments at Cuesta College. May God continue to bless us with your presence.
Sophie I’m old enough to be your grandfather and listened to the same outrage from well meaning adolescent during my youth when the civil rights movement was in full swing. You came out and protested but after the police demonstrated solidarity with you you pushed it to far. You were allowed to block a main street for two hours. There are other people who live here and we have rights to. Go look at the new multi-million dollar houseless shelter and all the programs for the homeless provided before you go complaining. If the bars were open the protest would not have lasted as long and there would have been no need for tear gas. Why do police wear riot gear? Check out the size of the docks that were thrown at them. As far as affording to live in SLO just stay here a few more years and as the overbuilding we are seeing and the elimination of regulations that kept everyone in line disappear no one will long to move here anymore and you will have your pick of the slum housing that’s let. Residence of the city should be outrage that Harmon want to spend $100,000 while we have a $9 million shortfall to protect protesters.
We need people to continue to speak up when the police overreact. Riot gear for a small, peaceful protest is just begging for trouble. When peaceful protests across the country are broken up with teargas, it really is 1984.
Yas queen!
The SLOPD saw a chance to pretend to be big city cops and they rolled with it. I wish I could say I was surprised they gasesd a peaceful protest but I’ve lived here long enough to know them better. SLOPD has always been a bunch of cocky, entitled wannabes who enjoy pushing around the youth and the poor with nary a criticism from our flaccid local news. Remember that not very long ago the chief of police LEFT HER GUN IN A PUBLIC RESTROOM and they had the gall to try to bring charges down on the guy who found it. Sure our incidents are smaller than in larger cities but the local cops abuse their power all the same. They are not here to serve and protect, just ask any homeless resident about how much they care about human rights. On top of that our local news is so totally incompetent and enthralled to the government line that they barely report, let alone dare to ask questions. It’s not just SLO either, this whole county is complicit in ignoring reality in favor of what they want to imagine life here is like. But I suppose everything looks good when you’re upper middle class and your answer to complaints is just “if you don’t like it then leave.”
The presence of warrior cops clad in military equipment –for peaceful protest in a small town– is precisely why we’re seeking police reform. Thank you SLOPD for the demonstration on what NOT to do… and why the “where’s my gun” police chief and Ian “oops I did it again” Parkinson are both on their way out.
In the mid 1970’s the San Luis Obispo Police Department were at their best when they caught two officers, partners, red handed doing breaking and entering. Instead of applying the law to these miscreants, they gave them outstanding recommendations and sent them on to Cal Poly. One of them had been hired with the same outstanding recommendations from San Jose Police Department under similar circumstances. This is not limited to law enforcement. It is a relatively common practice by institutions and corporations who fear they will have to take their precious time an sit in court and actually apply the law to their own. The number of guns for hire in all professions makes it almost impossible to bring a suit. This is particularly true of mental health practitioners. Gary Stanwick, rather than evaluating the perpetrator, was asked by the Attorney General’s office to evaluate me, the victim of a malicious supervisor who assaulted me at Cal Poly. When Stanwick interpreted the MMCI, it stated that I had none to minimal characteristics of a narcissist. Rather than not touch it with a ten foot pole which is the practice of anyone knowledgeable about testing, he went on to word for word from a a computer printout to describe me as a full brown narcissist. He also used the MMPI in a non-standard manner to diagnose a personality disorder which is impossible using the MMPI. Wwhen I called a friend, Dr. Gorge N. Butcher the leading authority on the MM{I, he was shocked and told me there is a disclaimer at the beginning to attempt to keep this from happening. I answered all the items honestly about being subjected to harassment at Cal Poly and these people stated openly to different persons and in different forums that they were “out to get” me. I dropped the case because my attorney was of the mind to bring up the wife of the perpetrator’s statements to others without the right to privilege that she was being abused by the perpetrator. I knew her and realized if we brought up the abuse which likely happened to previous wives and was memorialized in divorce papers would led to more abuse. As a trained, supervised, and licensed forensic psychologist, after about three years I abandoned by practice. When ask by jurists to return as my testimony was spot on, I told them that too many of my colleagues were perjurers and “that if I swan with sharks, someone would think I was one of them.” Based on statements by a number of attorneys, Stanwick is one among many “forensic” psychiatrists and psychologists in the county known to offer perjured testimony. As one expert witness, after court, when asked about his perjury retorted, “But, you don’t know how much money they are paying me.” I contacted our Representative, Cunningham, twice about a need to stop perjury by so-called expert witnesses. He has had months to reply. If you think he represents you, you must be a land developer, wealthy, or otherwise have him in your pocket through very generous donations to his campaign . There appears to be no area, agency or politico of certain persuasions who is candid and honest in the State of California. While this is partly my opinion most of these opinions are based in historical fact and not a figment of anyone’s imagination. My sources are impeccable and as is my memory. I would invite anyone who feels they have been defamed to please take me to court so I can reveal even more about their behavior.