Black man allegedly beaten during racist attack in Pismo Beach

April 23, 2021

By JOSH FRIEDMAN

Pismo Beach Beach police are searching for four white males who allegedly assaulted a black man in an unprovoked, racist attack earlier this month.

The city of Pismo Beach learned of the attack on Thursday through a letter to the editor in the Tribune. City officials then contacted the police department to open an investigation and to take the necessary steps to bring justice to the victim, a city news release states.

Detectives have begun collecting video evidence, contacting local businesses and searching for witnesses. Police are attempting to contact the victim and the victim’s family in order to hold the assailants accountable.

“Racism, violence and hate are not welcome in Pismo Beach,” the city says. “Those that violate the community will be found and prosecuted.”

In the letter to the editor, Vallejo resident Ed Atkins said he was celebrating his birthday in Pismo Beach with his daughter and her boyfriend, who is black. Four white racists spotted the mixed-race couple while they were walking at Pomeroy Avenue and Dolliver Street. The white males beat his daughter’s boyfriend bloody and swollen on the sidewalk in front of Brad’s Restaurant, Atkins wrote. [Tribune]

Anyone who has photos, videos or information related to the incident is asked to contact the Pismo Beach Police Department at (805) 773-2208.


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This just reminds me of the racist tagging of a Grover Beach school several years ago.

“What’s the big deal? “Racism doesn’t exist anymore”. I have read those words by another on this very site. Instead of listening to a bunch of disconnected White folks, I’ll listen to someone who does know racism is alive & well in SLO County: Cornel Morton.


As a black man living in the community, he expressed his disappointment of how minorities are treated in SLO County.

Cornel Morton, president and board chair of the Diversity Coalition of San Luis Obispo, said:


“We African American folks who live in this county pay attention to what happened..in Grover Beach,” Morton said. “For many of us, unfortunately, it’s not surprising. It’s not, ‘oh my god, I’ve been a victim of racism,’ it’s more ‘here we go again.’”


Morton says the Coalition is working on a series of community forums to encourage a conversation of the racial tensions facing the nation and the Central Coast.


“We don’t get anywhere by denying the obvious, and we don’t get anywhere by blaming people,” Morton said. “We only learn through a relationship one on one.”


Thank you for telling us the skin color of all involved…what would we do without you?….we would be lost without the media describing the skin color of all peoples in their stories…gee just can’t thank you enough…..make sure and tell us the skin color most affected by weather in your weather reports….and in your lifestyle articles…because we just can’t survive without that information….