Tianna Arata is not a hero. She does not deserve special consideration from the legal system or anyone else. Ms. Arata led an unlawful protest, qualifying as a riot by law enforcement, onto the U.S. 101 freeway, blocking traffic lanes in both directions. She put the lives of hundreds if not thousands of people in jeopardy. She demonstrated a cavalier disregard for the rights of others and displayed a sense of entitlement that she can do anything she wants without consequences.
If you look at the complete video from that event (I have) you see her compatriots surrounding and blocking a car with a pregnant woman in labor even as the driver pleaded with “protesters” to let them pass. They taunted the driver with slogans such as “you have to share the pain” as a woman planted herself directly in front of the vehicle to ensure the vehicle couldn’t move. Ms. Arata shows up at the scene and makes no attempt to assist the driver or the woman in labor but simply joins in with political chants. No compassion here, just a sense of entitlement and a desire to be obnoxious.
I frequently travel south down the 101 from Cuesta Grade and what I’ve noticed over the last 20 years is a dramatic increase in traffic, especially by heavy trucks. I’ve seen bad accidents on the grade and several chain-reaction accidents over the years. It’s not easy to bring an 80,000 pound semi-truck to a stop when rounding a curve, of which there are many driving south on the 101 especially when you encounter a sudden traffic backup in front of you. Many of these big-rigs are carrying very hazardous and flammable materials posing special risks to everyone on the freeway. When confronting an unanticipated traffic jam, a single moment of inattentiveness can become a disaster in short order. It’s not hard to imagine a pileup with people seriously injured, trapped in vehicles, or even killed with secondary effects such as fires spreading from the accident scene to the adjacent wildland. None of this seems to have occurred to Ms. Arata and her followers as they marched into the lanes of traffic after previously assuring local law enforcement that they would not go onto the freeway. Due in part to her assurances, the Highway Patrol had inadequate resources on hand to mitigate Ms. Arata’s dangerous actions.
People could have been seriously injured or killed by Ms. Arata’s actions, and her motivations are irrelevant. There is no justification for endangering the lives of motorists or demonstrators by such an irresponsible action. She led the demonstration, and no evidence has surfaced that she as a leader and organizer did anything to dissuade anyone from taking this dangerous course of action. The sympathy she is receiving from the local press is as irresponsible as it would be if an intoxicated motorist engaging in “wrong-way driving” was apprehended and the media pleaded for charges to be dismissed because of the driver’s youth, gender, or “having a bad life experience.” Ms. Arata’s followers now demand charges against her be dismissed by SLO County District Attorney Dan Dow. Flyers from “Black Lives Matter” have appeared threatening his family in an attempt to pervert the course of justice.
I also take exception to the notion that SLO County is “systemically racist,” a notion that is as insulting to the people of this county as it is false. Black Americans have lived and prospered in integrated neighborhoods, holding positions of high public esteem in our community, (such as Atascadero) since the 1950s, long before Ms. Arata was born.
I lived through the civil rights struggle, witnessing firsthand what a systemically racist community was like. The attitudes prevalent in society at large were racist in the 1950s when segregation was legal and codified. Americans watched the struggle of Black Americans as they fought for recognition as human beings and American citizens. I, along with millions of other Americans, came to admire Dr. Martin Luther King and those who peacefully marched with him. Despite savage attacks by segregationist forces, King never acquiesced to the temptation to resort to violence or retaliate against their persecutors. Their restraint gave them the moral authority to win over America’s hearts and minds and changed how Americans viewed Black America. You have to remember that America was taught to hold Black Americans in low regard by academia, the media, and every public entertainment venue for more than 300 years. It takes time to change hearts and minds, but they have changed. As a result, Black Americans have risen to hold every position in society with white America electing and re-electing a Black president just 12 years ago. There is no position in society that they haven’t held or height they haven’t achieved, nor is any barrier so difficult that they can’t overcome it.
Believing that Black Americans can’t achieve due to systemic racism is itself a form of racism, implying that without help, young Black men and women are doomed to inevitable failure no matter their effort. Racism does exist in individuals, but like other sins, decent people strive to overcome it and reject it as America has over the last half-century. Δ
Al Fonzi had a 35-year military career, serving in both the Vietnam and Iraq wars. Respond with a letter to the editor emailed toletters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Aug 13-23, 2020.
Damn this shit sucks man. Kind of telling on yourself by talking about “witnessing” the Civil Right’s Movement rather than saying you *participated* in it. Back in the 50’s people like you wrote articles like this about MLK when he marched from Selma to Montgomery. Sad to see your still on the wrong side of history.
“I also take exception to the notion that SLO County is ‘systemically racist,’ a notion that is as insulting to the people of this county as it is false.” Yeah of course your insulted by this, you’re an old privileged white man. The truth hurts huh Al? |
“Black Americans have lived and prospered in integrated neighborhoods, holding positions of high public esteem in our community, (such as Atascadero) since the 1950s, long before Ms. Arata was born.” This is good, but the material success of some individuals should not be used to distract from, or write off, the many inequalities still out there. For example the net worth wealth divide between of a typical white American family is nearly ten times greater than that of a Black American Family. In closing, I’ll ask a question that one PoC activist asked me that really stuck with me, and that is:
“What are you doing for Black Liberation?”
Al, While I agree with your last paragraph, I have some questions about the so-called lack of “systemic” racism not only in the US but around the world. In my studies, I have come to the understanding that groups of shadowy elites are highly racist, since they have descended from “royal” bloodlines and consider themselves not only our rightful rulers, but our rightful owners. In fact, our Creator made us to be free, sovereign natural beings owing no allegiance to ANY authority but the laws of Nature.
I think you would enjoy reading “The Most Dangerous Superstition” by Larken Rose, whose basic premise is that we are to live freely, with no master above us and no slave below us, but that certain entities and their agents have convinced us over millennia that “they” are legitimate “authorities” over us and somehow have the man-made right to use intimidation, coercion, threat, and force to get what they want. Instead, the author says that we are only beholden to Natural Law (also known as God’s Law, Universal Law, Cosmic Law), which is the body of permanent, immutable, binding, non-man-made principles guiding the consequences of human behavior.
“Believing that Black Americans can’t achieve due to systemic racism is itself a form of racism, ” what a great admission of your own biases, Mr. Fonzi.
“adjective: systemic
1. relating to a system, especially as opposed to a particular part.
“Institutional racism (also known as systemic racism) is a form of racism that is
embedded as normal practice within
society or an organisation.
It can lead to such issues as
– discrimination in criminal justice,
– employment,
– housing,
– health care,
– political power, and
– education, among other issues.”
Now, I remember that the first home purchased by my then spouse had a deed restriction against certain races. I also remember when the state of california made all such deed restrictions illegal.
My later spouse remembered when there was a curfew in Los Angeles that applied only to Negros so they hurried home after work.
All of this is long gone. Young people today have no memory of the Zoot Suiters and the riots against them in Los Angeles or even the Watts Riots in 1965. They have no experience filling out employment applications asking for race and religion.
They see incidents of law enforcement officers treating individuals very badly and assume that means racism is “embedded as normal practice” in that agency of law enforcement.
Could it be that our law enforcement agencies need better
– hiring practices,
– review of officers actions and reactions,
– ways to fire officers with a ban on future jobs in law enforcement and
– public scrutiny?
I do not believe that black or brown individuals living in this county are denied employment, housing, health care, – political power, or education or discriminated against in our courts [criminal justice].
If there are incidents of mistreatment by officers of the law, let us seek out those responsible and see that they are denied any future jobs where they can vent in negative ways towards any citizen, ever!
Whether or not Tianna Arata is a hero, she does not deserve to be persecuted & bullied by sadistic racist cops, who charged her with all sorts of crimes so far beyond what she actually did. Misogyny, racism & sadism drives the SLO cops, not any rational desire to prevent traffic from being blocked.
“demonstrated a cavalier disregard for the rights of others and displayed a sense of entitlement… without consequences”
See the Trump’s response to the COVID epidemic and the GOPs response to Russian election interference.
Al’s always good for a good long laugh…
So Al Fonzi, while being white, claims that there is no systemic racism in SLO county or the entire country, only a few “bad apples”? Did Al interview any Black people before he came to his conclusion? does he even know any Black people? As a retired teacher from Atascadero Unified School District, Al’s hometown, I can attest to the fact that I have observed racism from original sources, my Black students. Maybe Al should talk to the Black store manager who posted the video of the man shouting racial epitaphs because he was asked to wear a mask. Or maybe Al should talk to the local NAACP chapter about their experiences with systemic racism in our county.