Yost's idea of using anti-KKK law against peaceful college protesters shameful

What was Dave Yost thinking?

In a letter to Ohio's college presidents Monday, the state attorney general advised that prosecutors could use a generations-old law intended to curtail KKK activities to instead charge campus protesters with a felony. He even offered folksy fatherly advice on why young people would want to avoid a felony conviction.

Approved in 1953, Ohio Revised Code 3761.12 makes it a felony to commit a crime with two or more people while wearing white caps, masks or other disguise. "Even a misdemeanor, such as trespass," Yost added in his shameful correspondence.

Yost, a Republican, is not so subtly claiming that local prosecutors could add this charge to those arrested on the Ohio State University campus last month during protests related to the Israel-Gaza War.

About 40 people advocating for Palestinians face misdemeanor charges mostly for failing to disperse when ordered to do so by police. Some were wearing medical masks and other face coverings when they were detained.

Those arrested, including many people of color, are essentially accused of violating the university's space policies that allow for protests but restrict times and encampments. None are facing felonies, nor was any violence witnessed or reported to justify such a more serious charge.

Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein faces pressure to drop all of the charges, which is not unusual in many minor protest arrests. It's far more likely he will drop some cases than follow Yost's suggestion.

Regardless, the key word in the 1953 law is "white," the hallmark of racist KKK disguises including masks, hoods and robes that completely blocked the identity of cowards who terrorized Black people across the United States. We doubt the courageous lawmakers who passed this law in our segregated society of that era intended for it to be used against diverse people they sought to protect.

Whether the law would apply here to a protester wearing any other colored mask than "white" or religious head coverings is questionable and hardly worthy of a warning. It's difficult to imagine any sane prosecutor standing in court seeking to convict a Muslim woman on this felony charge.

Nor can Yost himself file charges in these cases unless local prosecutors invite his team to handle the matters.

We don't recall Yost issuing similar guidance when much larger and violent protests erupted after the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota four years ago this month and resulted in many misdemeanor arrests across Ohio. We also don't recall any talk of the 1953 law when the Proud Boys, designated a hate group just like the KKK, masked up and protested outside a drag storytime in Columbus, although there were no arrests.

Yost is smart enough to know all of this. So why did he send the letter? We believe he's trying to intimidate people from protesting at all, seeking to suppress their First Amendment rights.

That's fundamentally wrong for a powerful elected official sworn to uphold the constitution.

Yost, a likely candidate for Ohio governor in 2026, has embarrassed himself before when he claimed the story of a 10-year-old girl who had been raped in Ohio and received an abortion in Indiana was "likely fabricated." The events came while our state's "Heartbeat" abortion law was in effect during the summer of 2022. He was wrong.

And he's now doing everything he can to block the will of Ohio voters who overwhelmingly voted in November to enshrine reproductive care rights in the state constitution. Some also argue he's taking a United States Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action too far and keeping scholarships from deserving college students.

If Dave Yost wants to be governor of Ohio, he needs to stop pandering to conservative Republicans and wasting tax dollars on idle threats.

This piece was written by Dispatch Executive Editor Michael Shearer on behalf of the editorial board of The Columbus Dispatch. Editorials are fact-based assessments of issues of importance to the communities we serve. These are not the opinions of our reporting staff members, who strive for neutrality in their reporting.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio AG Dave Yost embarasses himself again with KKK law threat