On Feb. 23, a portion of an email I wrote to then San Luis Obispo Police Department Chief Deanna Cantrell was quoted in The Tribune. This was part of a story regarding the community’s reaction to the arrest of Tianna Arata and Elias Bautista following a protest on July 21, 2020. While the quote is accurate, it does not tell the whole story. The quote has led to some social media posts that have given an inaccurate portrayal of me and of my leadership of the San Luis Obispo United Methodist Church, which I serve. It is important to me to put this quote into context so as to more clearly reflect my beliefs, values, and teachings.
I participated in one of the peaceful protests in which Tianna Arata was one of the leaders. I marched through downtown San Luis Obispo with many others who followed the directions of Tianna Arata in what was being chanted, and in pausing to kneel in silence for eight minutes and 42 seconds, marking the time it took for George Floyd to be killed at the hands of police. It was a powerful and emotional experience. It was also a time of witnessing the strong leadership skills of Tianna Arata in the movement for racial equality, of Black Lives Matter, and an end to police brutality.
I have never advocated that Tianna Arata should go to jail or prison for her actions on July 21. I do not believe sentencing her to jail would serve any useful purpose. I do, however, believe she should be held accountable for her actions along with anyone else who broke the law while engaging in the protest. I believe a just resolution to the charges against Tianna Arata could be worked out through a process of restorative justice. The means for doing so are already in place in our community.
Civil disobedience and protests have a long and important history in our country, a history without which we would never have made any progress at all in the quest for civil rights, and the still unrealized dream that persons of color be treated with the same respect and opportunities that we who are of a privileged class take for granted. The history of civil disobedience and protests in our country is filled with activists and leaders who have been willing to get into “good trouble.” They have done so by speaking truth to power and engaging in acts of protest and civil disobedience when necessary. Many have done so willing to accept the consequences of their actions.
I am committed to the holy work of dismantling racism and of repairing the historic and ongoing damage caused to persons of color in which the church has all too often been complicit. The United Methodist Church, along with many other faith communities, is doing the hard work of pressing on toward the goal where racism is an ugly part of our collective history and no longer an acceptable part of our current reality. I am committed to this work in my own life, in the church I am blessed to pastor, and in the community in which I live. This essential work is frequently addressed in our worship services and in my messages, all of which are available online. I admit I have my own blind spots on the journey to be anti-racist and am committed to growing and learning along the way.
I have not had the opportunity to meet Tianna Arata. I would welcome the opportunity to do so and to have a dialogue about the important work that needs to be done by all of us. Δ
Rick Uhls is a pastor at San Luis Obispo United Methodist Church. Send a response for publication to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Mar 11-21, 2021.
While civil disobedience has a long history in the civil rights movement, I don’t recall seeing figures like Dr. Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela ever whining about being held accountable for breaking the law. In fact, their willingness to face the consequences of their acts was part of their message, and helped demonstrate the depth of their commitment. No one is urging that Arata or the others be beheaded or shackled in a cell on Devils Island, just that she face a measured and proportionate sanction for her illegal acts. If she wishes to be taken seriously as a leader, she and her supporters should stop whining about her supposed “victimhood” and accept the consequences of her tantrum.
“We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in
Hungary was “illegal.” It was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. But I am sure that if I had lived in Germany
during that time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers even though it was illegal. If I lived in a Communist
country today where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I believe I would openly advocate disobeying
these anti-religious laws.
I MUST make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the last few years
I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great
stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate
who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace
which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods
of direct action”; who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of
time; and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of
good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more
bewildering than outright rejection.
In your statement you asserted that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But
can this assertion be logically made? Isn’t this like condemning the robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the
evil act of robbery? Isn’t this like condemning Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical
delvings precipitated the misguided popular mind to make him drink the hemlock? Isn’t this like condemning Jesus because His
unique God-consciousness and never-ceasing devotion to His will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? We must come to see,
as federal courts have consistently affirmed, that it is immoral to urge an individual to withdraw his efforts to gain his basic
constitutional rights because the quest precipitates violence. Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber.”
Excerpt from Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Dr. King, Jr.
Read entire letter here:
https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
@Wendy: Let’s apply your logic. If, during the Nazi reign, one person murdered another, would the murderer be morally and legally blameless because the the laws were written and administered by the reprehensible? Would the victim’s family be persuaded by your argument that the law had no moral force due to the evils of the Nazis?
The motorists were innocent victims who were taken prisoner by Arata and her accomplices so that they could make a “statement”. They did not deserve to be forced to be part of her tantrum.
Democrats..and blm….see violence as a means to an end