San Luis Obispo has always been a place of quiet riot. While we were marching with candles during the Vietnam War, Isla Vista was burning down its Bank of America branch. That doesn't mean that local protest should become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the police department, with full coordination and the police chief marching at the fore. Yet hell hath no fury like our police chief scorned: Hence, apparently, the raft of felony accusations against Tianna Arata. Charging one Black woman out of thousands of white demonstrators (including myself) who have broken the law by marching in the streets and on the freeway: that has the result of both being repugnant and looking ridiculous.

James Papp

San Luis Obispo