The 1st amendment guarantees, "the freedom of speech or the rights of the people to peaceably assemble or to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” The images we’ve seen this week of unwarranted and excessive use of force against protesters is disturbing and wrong. To the degree this and other actions undermine the very first principal of our founding document, they are unconstitutional and unamerican. 

The national Sierra Club has condemned the murder of George Floyd and the attack on peaceful protesters outside the White House. Executive Director Michael Brune explains, "Protesters across the country are marching to affirm the humanity of Black people and expose the racism and hatred embedded into a system that relies on Black inferiority…We can't fulfill our mission to ‘enlist humanity’ to protect the planet while racism continues to divide us. There can be no climate justice without an end to the anti-Blackness and white supremacy that empowers polluters to create environmental sacrifice zones.”

So too must we safeguard our individual right to protest. Activists are the heroes who stand up for change and justice against entrenched interests, and we all lose when activism is met with violence and intimidation. An LA Times editorial this week outlines a dangerous trend, a report that documents 82 state bills considered or adopted by 32 states to criminalize assembly and speech, some of which are motivated by environmental as well as Black Lives Matter protests. They seek to criminalize merely crossing onto land hosting a pipeline, impose liability for property damage caused by others, charge peaceful protesters with rioting for expressing dissent at the same time or in the same place as lawbreakers, or criminalize “economic terrorism” by equating temporary civil disobedience with terrorism. The threat to our country is not from protestors, but rather from these dystopian and authoritarian proposals, as well as Trump's dangerous talk of employing military force.

Here in Santa Barbara, some of our Sierra Club activists who attended the recent protest were heartened by the statement of Santa Barbara Police Chief Lori Luhnow on George Floyd, but then dismayed to see the police show up in riot gear and act at times in a disrespectful way. We have attended many protests in Santa Barbara on a wide range of issues, including others about racial justice, and rarely see this type of police presence. We need and demand police restraint, de-escalation and respect for peaceful protest.

Picture from The Independent photo gallery shows more threatening that usual police presence at peaceful Santa Barbara protest. 

Meanwhile, the President of the Santa Barbara County Deputy Sheriffs' Association spent his time this week sending a letter in the Santa Maria Times supporting Exxon's oil trucking plan.

We must do better.