Tianna Arata
Template:TOCnestleft Tianna Arata is a California activist.
BLM
In California, 20-year-old activist Tianna Arata’s life was turned upside down after she helped organize a demonstration in San Luis Obispo, on the central coast, on 21 July 2020.
The college student mobilized after the local sheriff said he had “never seen any indication that systemic racism exists in this county”. Her group marched onto a highway and there were no conflicts with police, she said.
Once the protest was over, however, officers surrounded Arata and took her to jail, she said, accusing her of multiple felonies including “false imprisonment”and conspiracy. The local prosecutor is pursuing 13 misdemeanors against her.
“I was so shaken. Every single protest I’ve ever had any part in, I loudly advocate for nonviolence,” she said. “But they are depicting me as this horrible, evil criminal and trying to ensure jail time.”
After media outlets covered the charges against her, she faced an avalanche of racist hate, she said. Her address was leaked online and people even showed up to her home shouting slurs, she said. She has moved away from the region altogether: “I was just focused on how do I survive this?”[1]